On August 8, President Barack Obama’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) issued a disaster declaration for flooding in Utah. With that declaration, FEMA hit 158 declarations in 2011 and in so doing surpassed the 15-year record of 157 declarations, set in 1996 by President Bill Clinton’s FEMA, led by James Lee Witt. At this pace, FEMA will end the year with roughly 288 declarations, or almost twice the previous record. When FEMA issues a declaration, costs shift from the state where the declaration occurred to the federal government—which really means …
City leaders in San Francisco have launched an attack on local pregnancy care centers, alleging that they engage in false advertising by leading women to believe they provide abortions at their clinics. City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Supervisor Malia Cohen introduced legislation last week that would make it illegal for pregnancy care centers to advertise without a conspicuous explanation that they do not perform abortions. Herrera called the centers “right-wing” and “politically motivated,” pointing to one in particular called First Resort, a facility that offers counseling on all available legal …
The liberal political machine was in full throttle. Millions of dollars in campaign ads streamed on TV. An army of union workers descended on the state in a massive grassroots voter mobilization effort. But when the dust settled, the smoke cleared, and the votes were counted, the conservative majority that swept into Wisconsin last November remained intact last night despite an unprecedented recall effort designed to bring an end to Governor Scott Walker’s reforms. Yesterday in Wisconsin, Democrats tried to recall six GOP senators in an attempt to gain a …
In 1999, the Memphis zip code ranked as the third poorest in the country. Home to the Cleaborn and Foote housing projects, unemployment sat above 70 percent. Almost 50 percent of the community lacked a high school degree. Drugs and gangs plagued the community, and most residents had dim prospects of rising out of persistent poverty. In this environment, Steve Nash founded Advance Memphis in 1999. Recognizing the need for a friendly face and a chance at self-sufficiency, Nash started driving around Memphis’s worst communities trying to personally connect with …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. Fueling higher gas prices – Ed Feulner Yemen looks like al Qaeda’s new heartland – James Carafano Left’s Tea Party Invective on Boil – Brian Darling Pity the debt-paying generation – Bill Beach & Dustin Siggins TWO VIEWS: Voter ID is a sensible precaution – Hans von Spakovsky Population and climate change: Bend baby curve like Beckhams – Chuck Donovan Contraception edict tramples conscience – Rebbeca Hagelin Ryan: Deficit committee unlikely …
Last week, Bloomberg reported that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulatory push against the fossil fuel industry will cost America’s largest utility, the Southern Company, up to $18 billion in compliance costs. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. According to data in a filing by Southern last week, the EPA’s new emissions requirements cannot be met in the three years allowed by the agency. The results: more power plant closures, spikes in electricity prices, job losses, and increased power outages. Southern’s filing demonstrates that, based on company data …
Late last month, Smithsonian.com launched a “Department of Innovation” blog in hopes of reigniting President Barack Obama’s call for this generation’s “Sputnik moment”—in less glossy terms, that means taxpayer-funded corporate welfare to pursue the President’s pet projects. Fittingly enough, the “Department of Innovation” logo featured a series of cogs that, if put in motion, would grind to a halt. (We did our best to illustrate the likely results, above.) It seems that even when it comes to something as simple as putting together a logo depicting the gears of industry, government-funded …
In a classic example of “what’s good for thee but not for me,” Berkeley law professor and former Obama Ninth Circuit nominee Goodwin Liu seems poised to accept an appointment to the California Supreme Court this month—even though that would violate his own radical advice to others to give up their coveted seats to underrepresented minorities. Liberal hypocrisy knows few limits, but this story just keeps getting more humorous with every chapter. Last May, Liu’s nomination to the Ninth Circuit court was defeated when a bi-partisan Senate filibuster could not …
On August 5, Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister and heroine of Ukraine’s 2004 pro-western Orange Revolution, was arrested during her trial. Tymoshenko was in court defending herself against charges of overstepping her authority and allegedly making an illegal gas price deal with Russia in 2009. The presiding judge, Rodion Kireyev, accused her of systematically disrupting the trial’s proceedings and had her incarcerated for contempt of court for an unspecified period of time. Tymoshenko has strongly protested the charges brought against her. She holds that the trial is a politically …
