There she goes again. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano just can’t speak in public without destroying any remaining confidence Americans have left in her agency. CNS News reports that at a conference devoted to “environmental justice”, Secretary Napolitano announced that the Department of Homeland Security would be creating the “Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force” to mitigate the affects of global warming on security and response operations. No…really. According to CNS, Napolitano said the task force would examine: 1) “How will FEMA work with state and local partners to plan for …
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez continues his march to authoritarianism. In an effort to bolster the already excessive power of the executive, Chavez received authority to govern by decree until mid-2012 from a lame duck legislative national assembly controlled by Chavez loyalists. This action comes on the eve of a January handoff to a new legislative body with 40 percent of the membership, representing more than 50 percent of Venezuela’s voters, waiting to openly debate Venezuela’s future. Boasted Chavez, “you won’t be able to make a single law, little Yankees.” (Like Fidel …
President Barack Obama and his team have been resting on the strength of their social media efforts in the 2008 election for some time now. While they have been doing so, the world of digital media has passed them by, creating venues for political mobilization, policy debate and checks and balances unseen in any previous administration. In short, the right has overtaken the digital space in response to a largely secretive and out-of-control White House. But Robert Gibbs has a new spin on the White House’s social media efforts. In …
The U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations recently published a summary of the continuing resolution (CR) that would allow continued government operations through March 4, 2011. The vote on the resolution is expected today as the current CR is set to expire. Senators should not fall for the promise of the so-called “modernization” funds proposed in the CR in exchange for their vote on the flawed New START nuclear arms treaty between the U.S. and Russian Federation. Senators should understand that no matter how they may wish it were so, their …
Although sanity and common sense are frequently lacking in opinions issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski offered both those things in a concurrence he recently authored in U.S. v. Goyal. In convicting Probhat Goyal (the former CFO of Network Associates) of securities fraud, submitting false SEC filings, and making material false statements to corporate auditors, a federal jury accepted the government’s theory that Goyal should be imprisoned because Network Associates allegedly did not adhere to nuances of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Companies …
What to make of breaking news? “CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports the latest terror attack to America involves the possible use of poisons – simultaneous attacks targeting hotels and restaurants at many locations over a single weekend.” According to the report, a “key Intelligence source has confirmed the threat as ‘credible.’” First, why should we be surprised? There have been at 36 plots aimed a killing Americans on American soil thwarted since 9/11. Why should one more shock us? Especially this one. After all, it’s been done …
On December 15, the Missile Defense Agency conducted an unsuccessful test of Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), a long-range ballistic missile defense system designed to protect the U.S. homeland against a missile threat from North Korea or Iran. The initial review suggests that the failure occurred because an undetermined problem with the newest kill vehicle configuration. A more detailed review of why the GMD system failed to intercept and destroy the target has been initiated. However, it is important to note that while the intercept itself was a failure, the first …
Money is a powerful incentive. When it comes to global warming, governments all over the world have created policies that intend to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but have led to fraud, scams, black markets, and increased emissions. Mark Schapiro of Reuters reports on the unintended consequences of European companies offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions by paying the Chinese to destroy a much more potent contributor to warming: In order to offset their own greenhouse gases, companies and utilities in Europe that are subject to the emission limits of the Kyoto …
Following the Democratic Senate’s recent failure to push through a massive, 1,924-page omnibus spending bill stuffed with runaway spending and pork, cooler heads seem to be prevailing. The Senate now appears poised to pass a basic continuing resolution that would freeze fiscal year (FY) 2011 discretionary spending at FY 2010 levels until March 4, when the next Congress will have the opportunity to pare back spending. Last week, a Heritage Foundation analysis stated that an acceptable continuing resolution should (a) spend no more than last year’s level, (b) not shift …
Several comments have taken issue with my post on the recent Washington Post article on the supposed prevalence of gun smuggling from the U.S. to Mexico. I’m glad to respond to their concerns. Let me begin by pointing out that it is not possible to prove absolutely that, of all the guns in Mexico, only the 17,000 guns I cite in my post, and no others, came from the United States. That is known as seeking to prove a negative. I should also point out that the burden of proof …
