Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara was forced to resign on March 6 following the disclosure that he had received donations from a foreigner, a violation of Japanese election law. He admitted that he had received approximately $3,000 over a six-year period. Maehara’s resignation was surprising not only for its abruptness but also due to the meager sums and apparently innocent intentions of the donor. Maehara received the money from an elderly Korean who has resided in Japan for decades and knew Maehara since he was in eighth grade. Maehara is …
While Obamacare is rightly notorious as a fiscal nightmare, less well known is just how massively it transferred power from Congress to the executive branch. In fact, the full scope of Congress’s abdication is still unknown. What is now known, however, is that deeply buried within Obamacare was a $105 billion slush fund that assures its implementation into the future, no matter what future voters think or want. This makes then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comment to the Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties about Obamacare, “We have to pass the …
The United Nations has responded in several ways to the Libyan regime’s terrible acts over the past few weeks. None of those actions, including the premature referral of Libyan to the International Criminal Court, have seemingly given Muammar Qadhafi much concern. Attacks continue, people are dying, and Qadhafi remains intent to stay in power. The carnage has increased calls for the United States and other countries to intervene in Libya by imposing a no-fly zone or undertaking more robust actions. Indeed. The U.S., France and the United Kingdom are reportedly …
You’d think that billions of dollars in government spending would be hard to hide, especially from the Members of Congress who voted for it. Think again. Buried in the 2,700 pages of last year’s Obamacare legislation lies $105 billion in appropriated funds that bureaucrats are already using to implement Obamacare. On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) brought that news to light when the subject turned to budget cuts. REP. MICHELE BACHMANN: …There was a Congressional Research Service report that just was issued in February, and we discovered …
In the midst of Congress’s roaring debate over budget cuts, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz weighed in last week to decry any talk of cutting foreign aid in a letter he titled “Human Security Is National Security.” Civilian and humanitarian foreign aid, he argued, supports our national security interests and “reinforces our nation’s role as an international leader.” Schwartz compared President Obama’s desire to boost foreign aid to that of President Reagan, citing Reagan’s famous line describing America as a “shining city upon a hill.” Schwartz said Reagan understood …
An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack could permanently disable the electrical systems that run nearly all civilian and military infrastructures. If a large nuclear device exploded high in the atmosphere above the United States it would cause a catastrophe. A similar disaster could result from space weather, according to an article in National Geographic. A solar storm begins with hot gas from the sun hitting the earth’s atmosphere, causing an electromagnetic catastrophe. A few weeks ago, the world experienced the largest solar storm since 2007; it caused radio communications problems and …
He may have won a Nobel Peace Prize for spurring economic growth in the developing world, but on March 2 the government of Bangladesh ordered Muhammad Yunus to leave his post as managing director of the Grameen Bank, which is credited for starting the spread of microfinance across the globe. Yunus founded the Grameen Bank and built it from the ground up to become the powerhouse it is today. Using microfinance, it has lent money to countless numbers of poverty-stricken women across the country and helped reduce starvation and illiteracy, …
The spending cuts included in Congress’ recently passed two-week continuing resolution are just the first steps to greater fiscal discipline, freshman Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) said last week at The Heritage Foundation. With a new deadline of March 18 to fund the government, Ellmers promised push for more spending reductions in the weeks ahead. Speaking at The Bloggers Briefing, Ellmers said the $4 billion in cuts included in the two-week CR represent only what President Obama has requested to be defunded in his fiscal 2012 budget. Republicans are just “taking …
The Federal Times calls it a “steel cage match” in which “two wonks enter, one wonk leaves.” Congressional hearings are never that exciting, but Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing on federal pay does promise some spirited debate. At issue is how the federal government pays its civilian workers—and, more importantly, whether it pays them too much. Leaders of the Office of Personnel Management and National Treasury Employees Union will confront critics of federal pay for the first time in public. Those critics – “in the red corner” as the Federal …
Governor Scott Walker (R–WI) is in the news for suggesting an overhaul of public-sector collective bargaining, but in the midst of the controversy he has also offered a great proposal to expand school choice. Walker’s biennial budget proposes expanding school choice in Wisconsin, including charter schools and vouchers. Most significantly, the budget lifts the cap on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the nation’s oldest voucher program. More than 20,000 low-income students currently receive vouchers in Milwaukee, and lifting the cap would ensure that all low-income students in the city have …
