The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering whether to approve for human consumption a genetically modified (GM) salmon that holds promise for satisfying the growing demand for seafood and to allow wild stocks to revive. The science on “transgenics” is firmly on the side of approval. The more pressing debate—largely a consequence of unwarranted regulation—centers on product labeling. Fortunately, that’s rather simple to remedy. The AquAdvantage salmon, which grows twice as fast as its farm-raised cousin, was bred with a Chinook salmon gene for a hormone that accelerates growth …
“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in March. No single statement better epitomizes everything that is wrong with how Congress works. While Speaker Pelosi was referring to Obamacare at the time, she could have been referring to any of the thousand-plus page bills Congress passed this year. This was not how the Framers intended Congress to be run. The House of Representatives was designed to be a broad-based legislative body, more representative of widespread public …
The decision by the United States to delayl military exercises in the Yellow Sea in order to placate “neighboring countries,” i.e., China, prior to the G-20 summit in the Republic of Korea (ROK) marks the latest in a series of ill-considered, costly concessions Washington has made toward China. A high-level South Korean government official stated that a joint U.S.–South Korean naval drill scheduled for this month in the Yellow Sea was canceled in “consideration of geopolitical conditions ahead of an upcoming Seoul G-20 economic summit.” The exercise was to have …
Changing the membership of the Congress does not fix its out-of-touch culture. Congress’ immense unpopularity reflects the need for fundamental change in how it operates. The Heritage Foundation is proposing four immediate changes—starting at the top. The proposals would restore more power to rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives, who currently yield too much to party leaders. The goal is to strengthen the Constitutional design of “the people’s House,” whereby power is intended to function from the bottom up, not the current top down system. Heritage’s proposal is titled, …
Unions have become famous — or infamous — for fighting against layoffs for any reason. Teachers unions have made it next to impossible to fire bad teachers. The union movement went ballistic when D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee laid off teachers who performed poorly in the classroom. They spent freely to defeat the re-election bid of the Mayor who appointed her. Unions believe that public school teachers should not fear losing their jobs, even if they fail at them. Nevermind that bad teachers hurt America’s children. The union movement …
In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, Tennessee Governor Philip Bredesen explained how Obamacare has created a situation where the state government and many of its employees will find it mutually advantageous to the get rid of the employer-sponsored insurance program the state currently offers. As we have noted, Bredesen correctly acknowledges that it will be better for all parties if the state of Tennessee pays the fines involved with not offering an insurance program and subsequently dumps many of its employees onto the federally subsidized insurance exchange. Here’s how the Governor’s …
In a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Henry J. Aaron, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, writes that rolling back and defunding Obamacare would create “zombie legislation … [i.e.,] a program that lives on but works badly.” If Aaron is looking for a B horror movie reference to describe the state of American health care under Obamacare, “Frankenstein” would be a much more appropriate choice. Obamacare is a slipshod, pieced-together monster made of bad policy and covered in bolts and scars from the …
We were a little taken aback the other day when Joe Davidson’s “Federal Diary” column in The Washington Post quoted a top White House appointee and two union leaders attacking our research findings that federal workers get paid more than private sector counterparts as “lies,” “misinformation” and — oh my — “scapegoating.” We got in touch with Mr. Davidson to voice our disappointment that he would print such scurrilous charges about Heritage analysts — who put the cost to taxpayers at over $40 billion a year — without extending us …
“What are the most effective actions the United States could take towards liberty for the Iranian people and political freedom for the Green Movement in Iran?” This was the question posed to Amir Abbas Fakhravar, Iranian dissident in exile in the United States, by the audience at a lunch hosted by the Heritage Foundation last week. “Two things,” was his brief and blunt answer: Impose oil sanctions and reform Voice of America’s Persian News Network (PNN). The first item on this brief list comes as no surprise, given the overwhelming …
Veteran journalist Juan Williams’ recent dismissal from NPR indicates the current state of much of left-wing media. In a timely podcast, Heritage’s vice president of communications, Mike Gonzalez, discusses NPR. “They present themselves as an objective media organization, but they’re not,” he says. “I don’t have a problem with George Soros contributing his money to anything…I have a problem with me, a taxpayer, being forced to contribute money to NPR…” To listen to the full interview with Mr. Gonzalez, click here.
