To rephrase President Obama’s State of the Union theme: “This is our generation’s apparatchik moment.” Yes, he said “Sputnik” instead, but his actual agenda is about the apparatchik—government by party leaders, bureaucrats and the well-connected. His agenda is symbolized by his push for “green jobs” as the path to a better future. Simply put, the green jobs agenda spends billions of taxpayer dollars to destroy existing jobs and replace them with jobs in politically-favored businesses, raising the costs of energy along the way. The politically-connected win. Existing job-holders and companies lose. Home …
This Wednesday morning at 10 am, after serving nine days of a 10-day sentence, Kelley Williams-Bolar was released from the Summit County Jail in Akron, Ohio. Her crime? Trying to provide her two daughters with a better education. How on earth did trying to provide your children with a better education become a crime in the United States? Because the political party that currently occupies the White House is completely dependent on the power of education unions, and these unions see all efforts to shift power away from them, and …
The release of the final report(s) of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) brings to mind the story of several blind men trying to describe an elephant. One felt the legs and decided an elephant was like a forest, while another felt the trunk and decided that elephants are like snakes. Sadly, the FCIC went the same way by releasing three different reports, each of which reflects a certain view of the 2008 financial collapse. The majority report lists many causes of the crash but lays most of the blame …
Congressional debate is ready to commence on the Senate filibuster. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison wanted the Senate to be the “anchor” of government, allowing time for bills to be debated and examined, or as George Washington coined, a place for bills to be “cooled” by the passions of the House of Representatives. Some, however, charge that during the 111th Congress the filibuster was abused beyond the founders’ intent, and propose that it should therefore be eliminated. Others, apprehensive of total elimination, argue that it should be amended, so that …
On Wednesday, the House Budget Committee convened a hearing to explore the fiscal consequences of Obamacare. Lawmakers heard from Richard Foster, Chief Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS); James Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; and Dennis Smith, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Foster’s remarks echoed the findings of the CMS Actuary’s report released last April. Of the promise that “if you like your current insurance, you can keep it,” Foster claimed that this would be “not true in …
Join our live chat with Heritage’s Director of Communication Rory Cooper. We will answer your questions about conservative solutions to Obama’s proposals that were laid out during his speech on Tuesday night. What would you have like Obama to say? What is the best course of action for America to take? Submit your questions and we will answer as many as we can. Lunch With Heritage feat. Rory Cooper
In his State of the Union address, President Obama used innovation as one of the key words in elaborating his vision for America’s economic future. He embraced the word quite often during his speech, mentioning “innovation” eight times. If other variations of the word, such as innovate and innovative, are counted, that increases the total to 10. Other primary words he used included jobs (12 times) and world (nine times). Obviously, the President was eager to talk about innovation and set the tone by saying, “The first step in winning …
An Australian member of the Special Air Service Regiment, Corporal Ben, has received the Victoria Cross For Australia, the nation’s highest military honor. In October 2010, the SAS launched an assault against a large group of Taliban fighters who were moving to attack Australian and Afghan forces. The troops flew into action on U.S. Blackhawk helicopters, but on landing were immediately pinned down by three heavy machine guns. As a result of a previous action in December 2006, Corporal Ben had already won the Medal for Gallantry. In that battle, …
Making his case for cuts in defense spending,The Washington Post‘s David Ignatius wrote yesterday: Trimming the defense budget is one of the hardest tasks in Washington. … Senior Pentagon officials recognize that new technologies make it possible to reshape the budget without putting the country at greater risk. … The new technologies that will drive these changes are detailed in a study called “Technology Horizons” that was prepared last year by Werner Dahm, who was then chief scientist of the Air Force. He urged research on “cyber resilience” and “electromagnetic …
Good teachers, high academic standards, location and even the quality of extracurricular activities are all factors that go into choosing the right school. But for some parents, violence is also a key factor in deciding where to send their child for a quality education. Violence and crime have no place in an institution that exists to foster learning and creativity. Sadly, this is not always the case as many of our country’s public schools suffer because of violence, crime and drug and alcohol abuse. In fact, a recent study found …
