There are now reports that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has dispatched an airliner to Athens, to assist in any possible evacuation of Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese persons from Libya. This is in addition to the dispatch of Chinese merchant ships and even fishing boats. These efforts are consistent with Chinese President Hu Jintao’s instructions to “spare no efforts to ensure the safety of life and properties of Chinese citizens in Libya.” Setting aside the fact that Taiwanese are not citizens of the PRC and the controversy bound …
The potential government shutdown is not just history repeating itself between a Democrat President and a Republican House. It’s also a repeat of a key role played by government employee unions. What’s different now is that the public has awakened to how they’ve been duped with false promises about big government. In the 1995-96 shutdowns, the public worker unions reportedly played a huge role behind the scenes; today their role has been brought into the open, becoming common knowledge even before the mass union protests at the Wisconsin state capitol. …
This Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder sent his own version of a “Dear John” letter to the Speaker of the House, informing him that President Barack Obama’s Justice Department will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in federal court. The letter clearly states that the decision was personally made by the President himself, who, supposedly just this week, came to the conclusion that DOMA violates “the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment” of the U.S Constitution. This purely partisan act is completely consistent with both President …
Join us right now for our “Lunch with Heritage” online chat. We will be taking questions about the turmoil that is unfolding in Wisconsin and other states with the public sector unions. We will be joined by Heritage’s Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy, Rob Bluey. Rob has been keeping a close eye on the situation in Wisconsin and other states where a similar debate is taking place. Lunch with Heritage feat. Rob Bluey
Last week, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. The mandate has been declared unconstitutional by federal courts in Virginia and Florida, and appeals are pending in those cases. The committee heard from three legal experts: Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Duke University law professor Walter Dellinger, and Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett. Testimony touched on several aspects of the individual mandate, which requires Americans to purchase a level of coverage deemed appropriate by the Department of Health and Human Services or …
February marks the beginning of the season of commission meetings at the United Nations in New York, where the Commission for Social Development wrapped up last week and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is just beginning. Delegates to the Commission for Social Development discussed the lofty goal of poverty eradication as their priority theme and debated the effectiveness of social protection schemes in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The CSW, typically a forum for international feminist frenzy, is poised to discuss the priority theme of “access …
Yesterday, the FBI arrested Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari for the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His arrest marks the 38th successfully thwarted terrorist plot against the United States since 9/11. The FBI, with the help of concerned citizens, should be applauded for stopping the plot before it was able to mature. At the same time, it also highlights key failures of Congress and the Obama Administration in homeland security. According to the FBI, Aldawsari, a 20-year-old Saudi citizen and student at South Plains College in Lubbock, Texas, sent …
First it was the Arab and Persian nationalist revolts against European colonialism. Next it was the Islamist revolt against the corrupt monarchies and nationalist regimes set up in the nationalist era. Now we have a third wave of revolt across the Middle East that is unprecedented and unpredictable. Arab nationalism was largely an elite phenomenon that drove and exploited popular sentiments. Islamism is driven by clerics and political ideologues like the Muslim Brotherhood who likewise exploit peoples’ religious beliefs and social resentments. The current third wave of revolt is truly …
If further evidence is needed that the European Union is an emperor with no clothes when it comes to global power, look no further than its handling of the Libya issue. With several hundred Libyans already dead at the brutal hands of Colonel Gaddafi and his murderous thugs, all the EU has been able to muster is a mealy-mouthed statement condemning the violence, but without even identifying the key figure responsible. Here’s the full statement issued earlier this week by Baroness Ashton, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy: The …
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday spoke in conversation at The Heritage Foundation with Heritage President Edwin J. Feulner about his long career in public service and private enterprise and on his recently published and best-selling memoir Known and Unknown. The memoir is a fascinating read, as reviewers both friendly and hostile have agreed. As the Secretary has been alive for one-third of the history of the United States—as he ruefully observed—it’s not surprising that his memoir is such a treasure trove. His remarks on Ronald Reagan, Margaret …
