Bill Gale’s discussion of the five myths about the Bush tax cuts was an unusually slanted piece from a normally straight-shooting liberal economist. With respect to an old friend, a little further myth busting is called for. Tax Relief as Stimulus Gale refers to the proposition that extending the tax relief “would be a good way to stimulate the economy” as a myth. In doing so, he conveniently erects a bit of a straw man. Continuing current policy cannot add much to stimulus except by erasing a debilitating source of …
At a Second Amendment Task Force held earlier this summer, Hans Von Spakovsky, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, explained that Elena Kagan’s lack of action in her current job as Solicitor General with regard to the 2nd Amendment speaks volumes about how Kagan would rule on similar cases that would appear before the Supreme Court. As Hans explained to the audience, “”A lot of the discussion and speculation about Kagan’s legal philosophy is limited by her very thin record of scholarship and her complete lack of experience in …
“Man is a giddy thing,” William Shakespeare might say, looking at the fuss over the relocation project of Futenma Air Station. Nevertheless, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) would never ask, “Dost thou not suspect my years?” The DPJ’s 2010 election manifesto emphasized the need for a strong alliance between Japan and the United States, a significant change from the 2009 election platform which sought a more equal alliance and reduced U.S. military presence in Japan. Okinawa has been a cornerstone of the Japan-U.S. security alliance during the last 50 …
Yesterday we wrote about the real consequences of the failure of the federal government to enforce our immigration laws by referring to the two teenagers in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Allison Kunhardt and Tessa Tranchant, who were killed by a drunken illegal alien in 2007. The culprit had been previously arrested and convicted for public drunkenness and DUI. If his immigration status had been checked and he had been deported after the first arrest, those two girls would likely be alive today. Sadly, we already have another example in Virginia of …
By the only objective standard available, President Barack Obama’s $862 billion economic stimulus has been a complete failure. His administration promised the American people that if the stimulus passed unemployment would never be higher than 8%. It blew past that and hit 10.1% in March 2009 and currently stands at 9.5%. Faced with this inconvenient truth the President is now falling back on the same failed Keynesian models that betrayed him the first time to make the case that the recession would have been even worse without his policies. So …
The Senate today commenced debate on the nomination of Elena Kagan to serve a lifetime appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court. The debate opened with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee setting the tone for liberals in the Senate. The debate expected to last until the end of the week. Senator Leahy led off with the following statement: More than 12 weeks ago, President Obama nominated Elena Kagan to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. …
Even as Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) was telling constituents that the federal government has unlimited power to do whatever it wants, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson was saying, “Not so fast!” What President Obama considers his crowning achievement illustrates the great divide in American politics — between those who see Washington’s power as limited only by the ability to sway voters and we who see it as limited by design in the U.S. Constitution. Straining to find a constitutional basis for mandating that everyone must buy health insurance, Obama’s lawyers …
Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued what it is calling a “report” on the supposed improvements to Medicare passed as part of Obamacare. The first thing to note here is that this so-called “report” isn’t really a report at all. It provides no new information; it shouldn’t generate any news, as it contains no news. It’s just a rehash of administration talking points, half-truths, and deceptive arguments, repeated many times previously, based on cost estimates produced by the chief actuary of the Medicare program in April …
One issue arising out of the Gulf oil spill is liability for the secondary costs that stem from offshore oil and gas accidents. The liable party is responsible for cleanup costs, and that law should remain. Although BP has agreed to cover all legitimate claims, the current system does not sufficiently align risk and liability with individual behavior. It socializes risk by spreading the costs across the entire industry and does not inherently promote safe operations. Raising the cap without more comprehensive reform would fail to fix these problems and …
Last month at a town hall in Hayward, Calif., a constituent asked Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) about Obamacare: “If this legislation is Constitutional, what limitations are there on the federal government’s ability to tell us how to run our private lives? … If they can do this, what can’t they?” Stark, a long-time advocate of government-run health care, gave an honest yet troubling answer: “The federal government can, yes, do most anything in this country.” Yesterday a federal court in Virginia agreed with the logic, but not the Constitutional understanding, …
