The decision to adopt a national seal was made on July 4, 1776, the same day that the Continental Congress declared America’s independence from Great Britain. As a practical matter, America needed an official emblem to affix to diplomatic and official documents in order to signify its sovereignty as a new nation. And yet our Great Seal would become so much more than a mark of sovereignty; the symbolism of the Great Seal reflects America’s universal, timeless ideas. As opposed to the state seals of European nations, the imagery of …
A front-page story on Afghan-Pakistani relations in today’s Washington Post indicates that Afghanistan and Pakistan are discussing a peace settlement for Afghanistan. While a genuine thaw in relations between the two countries would be welcome, the idea that the U.S. would take a back seat in any effort to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan defies logic. The U.S. has not lost over 1,000 U.S. soldiers in battle and invested billions of U.S. dollars in Afghanistan only to allow Pakistan to re-install its violent proxies there. President Karzai …
Imagine this hypothetical: An independent oil company executive accuses BP of offering him a job if he’ll stop competing against a BP subsidiary — a potentially illegal dealing under federal criminal law. BP denies the accusation for months. Then, suddenly, its in-house counsel releases a two-page memo summarizing the results of an internal “investigation.” The memo claims that, although the CEO’s chief of staff asked a former BP CEO to approach the individual and offer an “advisory” position, the “allegations of improper conduct rest on factual errors and lack a …
This week in a federal district courtroom in San Francisco, the trial that could alter the future of the institution of marriage came to an end. The closing arguments featured prominent national attorneys seeking to answer 39 final questions framed by the presiding judge, Vaughn Walker. At issue is the contention of plaintiffs that Prop 8, a voter-approved constitutional amendment that was adopted in November 2008, violates the U.S. constitution. The National Organization for Marriage, whose California entity was one of the prime proponents of Prop 8, alongside the organization …
In case you missed it the first time around, EMP Armageddon, the National Geographic Channel series which examines the threat of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), will be back on TV two more times: Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. and Tuesday at 6:00 p.m (of course check your local listings for details or visit National Geographic’s website. You’ll recognize several famous faces, including Bill Graham, Chairman of the EMP Commission and one of the stars of The Heritage Foundation’s missile defense documentary, 33 Minutes, as well as Congressman Roscoe Bartlett—a champion for …
House Cloakroom: June 21–25, 2010 Analysis: This week the House will attempt to pass a handful of bills that have been postponed for weeks now such as the DISCLOSE Act, a legislative response by Democrats to the Supreme Court case Citizens United, which has run into disputes after certain groups negotiated exemption from the measure. Also on tap will be the War Funding Supplemental, which is an $84.3 billion bill that contains only $33 billion for actual defense and military construction. The House will continue its conference with the Senate on the …
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held its second hearing this week on the New START Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation. Led by the chair of the committee, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and ranking minority member, Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN), a number of senators addressed several areas of concern with the witnesses, the Honorable James N. Miller, Jr., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; General Kevin P. Chilton, Commander US Strategic Command; and Lieutenant General Patrick J. O’Reilly, Director of the Missile Defense Agency. Gen. O’Reilly …
As your mother probably told you (many times), bigger isn’t necessarily better. And yet that’s too often the approach the military uses to determine whether it’s succeeding in its mission. When members of the American defense establishment try to answer former New York City Mayor Ed Koch’s famous question, “How am I doing?” they traditionally begin by measuring raw industrial output. How many weapons and platforms have been repaired? How many tons of matériel have been moved? How many hours of services were provided? How many replacement parts were acquired? …
Runaway government spending has been a vocal concern of the burgeoning Tea Party movement since its inception. But many average voters don’t know a lot about the federal budget and how it works, outside of the fact that it’s out of control. In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Brian Riedl talks about his new report, Federal Spending by the Numbers, which breaks down the budget by program so you can learn about precisely how your tax dollars are being spent. Examples range from outrageous, like hundreds of thousands spent …
Many Americans mistake the United States’ capability to borrow money as an indicator that our nation is incapable of incurring the same fiscal mess Greece currently finds itself in. In reality, this isn’t so, and this mentality could prove dangerous for America’s future if used to placate lawmakers regarding the actual state of our fiscal house. Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan explains in an article published today in the Wall Street Journal that subdued long-term interest rates are “fostering a sense of complacency that can have dire consequences.” But …
