Monday’s attack on the U.S. Embassy in Damascus—by a mob orchestrated by the Syrian government—underscores the abject failure of the Obama Administration’s strategy of engaging the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime. The Administration naively sought to upgrade diplomatic contacts with the Syrian dictatorship after abandoning the Bush Administration’s policy of mobilizing international pressure on Syria to halt its support of terrorist groups that murdered civilians in Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq, as well as U.S. troops in Iraq. It reversed the Bush Administration’s 2005 withdrawal of the U.S. ambassador to Syria following …
Conservatives should beware of policies that simply meet a budget target number without considering whether the underlying policy changes move a program in the right direction. Case in point: the Medicaid blend rate, which would replace the various federal matching rates for different categories of enrollees with one unified federal rate. Yes, those on the left are attacking the blend rate proposal that would set one federal match rate in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). That could lead conservatives to think it must be a good idea. …
In a snapshot summary of her memoir released on Tuesday, In Spite of Everything, Susan Gregory Thomas gives a firsthand account of what remains of children and parents after the devastation of divorce. Thomas presents a vivid portrait of the children of divorce in her neighborhood who, with her, wandered as “sad-eyed, bruised nomads.” Decades of research underscore the truth of Thomas’ anecdotal account and the plight and trajectories of those lonely children. Adolescents who do not live in intact families are more likely to engage in substance abuse, exhibit …
As the Obama Administration pushes for a ninth reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, conservatives in Congress are offering alternatives to the failed status quo of Washington-driven education policy. Representative John Kline (R–MN), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has introduced a new bill to provide states and school districts with more flexibility in how they allocate federal education dollars. The flexibility bill is the third in a series of proposals put forward by the committee to restore educational control to state and local leaders. The proposal …
Over the past several weeks, America has seen on grand display in Washington a singular mindset emanating from the White House: We must raise taxes so that we can keep on spending. This week, though, America was treated to something different—a glimpse inside President Barack Obama’s mind, a roadmap of his economic worldview. And what was revealed was a philosophy that is fundamentally at odds with America’s job creators. That insight came during the President’s press conference on Monday in which he broached the subject of raising taxes as part …
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress today before the House Financial Services Committee. What will he say about unemployment, if anything at all? The stakes are high with Bernanke’s approval rating at an all-time low. The hearing starts at 10 a.m. The Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee will hold a joint hearing on tax reform and the tax treatment of debt and equity. Heritage’s Asian Studies Center will host a briefing on the Global Scope of Radical …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Doing more by doing less – Ed Feulner On treaty, team O is ‘lost’ at sea – Peter Brookes Why is the government mailing you $2? – Rory Cooper Fix Social Security to give better future to our kids – David John The Obamacare Case Proves that It’s Time for Judicial Engagement – Edwin Meese III & Clark Neily Don’t Compromise on Taxes – Investor’s Business Daily New Obamacare regs confirm …
“The late great Austrian economist F.A. Hayek would have seen the Arab Spring for the economic revolt it was right from the start,” writes Hoover Institution scholar Fouad Ajami in The Wall Street Journal. In his iconic Road to Serfdom, Hayek laid out the stepping stones that lead societies to abandon individual freedom and replace it with central planning and socialism. Ajami explains how the Arab world went down its road to serfdom during the 1950s and ’60s. America faces a similar risk today. Ajami writes: “What Hayek would call …
It’s time to get “back to the basics,” as far as Meta Hahn of Westerville, OH, is concerned. Standing in front of a bus emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty and countless signatures, the fifth-grade teacher and board member of the Worthington Tea Party said, “If you are not going to get involved, then don’t complain.” Hahn got involved over the July 4 weekend at the First Annual “We the People” convention. The convention, sponsored by The Heritage Foundation and like-minded organizations such as The Buckeye Institute and American Majority, …
This morning, the House Budget Committee invited Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to a hearing on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), the left’s weapon of choice for tackling Medicare’s $38 trillion in unfunded promises to America’s seniors. Both sides of the debate agree that extensive reductions to Medicare’s runaway spending are needed, and have even proposed comparable targets for growth in spending. The key difference, then lies in who makes the difficult decisions regarding seniors’ health care under the chosen direction for reform: Patients, or bureaucrats? Sec. …
