From Egypt, to Libya, to Tunisia people have been crying out for freedom. What do these protests mean for America? Join us right now! We are joined by Heritage’s Director of the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, Jim Carafano. Jim will be taking your questions about the future of Middle East with all the revolutions taking place, and the impact it will have on American foreign policy. Lunch With Heritage feat. Jim Carafano
This Friday, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush will join President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan at Miami Central High School to discuss President Obama’s education agenda. Bush, whose sweeping education reform agenda led to monumental gains in student achievement in Florida, told the Miami Herald that he plans to promote the Florida reform model to the Administration during the visit: Because of high expectations for students, hard-edge policies that focus schools on learning and an array of choices for families, the Sunshine State is leading the nation in rising …
African Union chairman Jean Ping’s recent op-ed espouses China as the model of economic excellence to which African countries should aspire. Ping praises China’s globalization, particularly in enterprise development, trade, and investment in Africa. However, Ping structures his argument around a misinformed premise. He assumes that since China is a major business partner with Africa ($43.7 billion in investment), it provides an economic model that will spur growth and provide resilience against market decline in African countries. This assumption is fundamentally flawed. Africa is not capable of emulating China, nor …
The Obama administration got a well-deserved rebuke today from Judge Roger Vinson in the Florida lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare (aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). Judge Vinson issued a new order in response to a bizarre and obtuse “motion to clarify” that the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed on February 17. Vinson’s original order on January 31 could not have been clearer: He declared the entire law unconstitutional and specifically said that, because he presumed that officials of the executive branch would adhere to the law …
President Obama calls Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to curtail the collective-bargaining rights of state employees an “assault.” But the real assault is the conspiracy that has existed for decades between elected officials and public-employee unions — and taxpayers are the ones who wind up battered. The unions get salaries, health benefits, and pensions far in excess of what the average taxpayer in the private sector earns. In exchange, the unions contribute huge amounts of money to the elected officials who agreed to these outrageous and fiscally bankrupting perks.
Why on earth are British taxpayers being forced to fund European Union lobbying for policy campaigns in the United States? Furthermore, why is the EU directly interfering in domestic political debates in America, and so far without Congressional oversight? As the research detailed below demonstrates, the EU’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) is spending millions of Euros on US-based campaigns against the death penalty. An extraordinary development. The EIDHR project list for 2009 (the latest year for which a full itemised list is given), unearthed by my …
“Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the idea that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country. And in fulfilling this promise, entrepreneurs also play a critical role in expanding our economy and creating jobs.” – President Barack Obama, January 31, 2011 The recent White House announcement of a new government program to promote entrepreneurship must signify that the Obama Administration finally “gets it” about job creation and economic recovery, right? Certainly free-market conservatives can agree …
Today, President Barack Obama will welcome Mexican President Felipe Calderon to the White House. As Senior Latin American Policy Analyst, Ray Walser, aptly described in his latest WebMemo, the atmosphere will be tense given the February 15 murder of U.S. immigration agent Jaime Zapata and recent Wikileaks revelations from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City questioning the coordination and effectiveness of Mexico’s security team dealing escalating violence and bloodshed because of narco-violence. And yet, there are so many critical issues at stake of mutual concern for both countries beyond the …
Yesterday, for the first time since September 2008, the price of a barrel of crude oil topped $100 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But while the recent unrest in the Middle East has had some marginal effect on rising prices, the most significant factor has been increased oil demand worldwide. That is why, long before the recent protests even began, analysts were predicting $4 a gallon by this summer and $5 a gallon by 2012. Anyone could have predicted that the recovering world economy, coupled with the continued growth …
Once again, Obamacare shows that, when it comes to health care reform, the saying “Hey, it’s the thought that counts” just doesn’t cut it. Proponents of the new law argue that its stringent insurance regulations will help consumers, but these new regulations also threaten some existing employer-sponsored plan arrangements. To avoid a flood of workers losing their health care, two-and-a-half million people have been exempted from the new rules through waivers granted to employers. A hearing held by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation last week …
