Can it get any worse for the workers of Louisiana? In just a few short years, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the region; BP’s oil spill wrecked havoc with the fishing and tourism industry; and the government’s drilling moratorium is about to impact a significant segment of the Louisiana economy. Adding to all this, earlier this week Northrop Grumman stated that it would close its Avondale shipyard in Louisiana. In the past decade, the Avondale shipyard built the San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks which has experienced construction and maintenance …
In a major press conference on July 15, outgoing Colombian Minister of Defense Gabriel Silva briefed the national press on the presence of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leaders and camps in Venezuela. Silva reported the location of one such camp at the following coordinates: North 10° 40′ 42″ West 72° 32′ 03—close to the Venezuelan border city of Villa del Rosario. Silva said this camp appeared to be permanent and is used by FARC leader Ivan Marquez for meetings with the pro-FARC support group the “Bolivarian Continental Movement,” …
The debate over health care reform has been a theoretical affair, full of abstractions that contradict one another. Amid all the ambiguity, one fact is unequivocal and unprecedented. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, every American will be compelled to purchase health insurance, or else – the “or else” being a fine collected by the Internal Revenue Service should you fail to ante up. “The mandate,” as it’s known, has its origins in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which grants Congress the authority to regulate interstate commerce. …
It gets pretty boring to watch conservatives endlessly complain about a fawning press corps, and a biased media. Yes, a majority of the national media is left-leaning; even they will admit as much. Some journalists put political views aside, and do an excellent job of delivering the news. Others can’t bear to avoid political commentary. You can provide your own examples here. But the problem conservatives have these days can’t just be prescribed to one individual journalist, but more to “group-think” deciding what is and isn’t a national story. And …
President Barack Obama’s decision to ban oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the federal government’s bureaucratic delays are exacerbating the nightmares already tormenting the torn region. Now, in a bitter twist of irony, Obama’s surgeon general, Regina Benjamin, this week visited the Gulf to warn residents about the mental health problems caused by oil spill-related stress (that her boss is likely making worse). See if you can connect the dots on this one:
This week attention has been focused on President Obama’s pick of Jacob Lew to replace outgoing Peter Orszag as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. While Washington focuses on his record and qualifications, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) tried to focus attention back on the failure of Congress to pass a real budget this year, saying in a tweet yesterday: .bbpBox18600042913 {background:url(http://a1.twimg.com/profile_background_images/2642284/Twitter-SJCBGD.jpg) #71829E;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-size:18px !important;line-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{display:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{line-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{text-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-size:12px;display:block} What good is …
James Woolsey, former director of Central Intelligence, and Rebaccah Heinrichs, a former manager of the House Bipartisan Missile Defense Caucus published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal vividly illustrating the threat posed by Iran’s weapons program and the need for a robust U.S. missile defense system. The authors note that Iran is capable of deploying an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) by 2015, which is a scary fact for a country whose leader likes to proclaim “death to Israel.” What is so discouraging about this news is that it really …
“Pay-for-performance” medicine has gained popularity in recent years, and Obamacare makes it a reality for Medicare enrollees. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Pay-for-performance allows third parties to pay physicians based on treatment outcomes. In theory, this sounds like a great way to encourage doctors to improve outcomes. But in practice, it’s a bit more complex. To determine payments, payers must use some sort of yardstick to measure outcomes. Medicare has done this for years. Its hospital and physician quality reporting programs require health care providers to report on …
At last! It took a year, but The Washington Post and The New York Times have finally done (grudging) stories about the Justice Department’s scandalous dismissal of the voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. Indeed, even The Los Angeles Times editorialized about the testimony of former career lawyer Christian Adams before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, going so far as to admit that the Department’s handling of this case “raises larger questions,” although they then claim that “so far the case hasn’t been made” that this was …
Without spending a single dime, the Obama administration did more yesterday to create jobs for the U.S. economy than it has throughout its entire existence. With the single stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill that set in motion 243 new formal rule-makings by 11 different federal agencies. Each of the 243 rule-makings will employ hundreds of banking lobbyists as they try to shape what the final actual laws will look like. And when the rules are finally written, thousands of lawyers will bill …
