Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. The power of civil society – Ed Feulner, The Washington Times New State Laws Could Impact 2012 Vote – Sam Favate, Wall Street Journal The Best Countries for Business – Kurt Badenhausen, Forbes Former attorney general visits Hall residents – Ashley Fielding, Gainesville Times Democrats Tax the Poor With the “Durbin Fee” – John Hayward, Human Events Leon Panetta in Israel: Will his urgent messages bring action? – Howard LaFranchi, …
America has heard a lot of talk about the “Buffett Rule” — President Barack Obama’s plan to make the tax code more “fair” by permanently raising taxes by $1.5 trillion over 10 years, with most of the burden falling on families and businesses earning more than $250,000 per year. But if he wants to talk about “fairness,” he should look at how much top income earners already pay in taxes, as the chart below shows: In a new paper, Heritage’s Curtis Dubay explains that the supposed “fairness” of the new rule is …
The U.S. Postal Service faces a bleak future without reform. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a successful businessman before coming to Congress, has just the plan to save it from financial collapse. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, spoke at Heritage yesterday about the Postal Service’s problems and the changes he would make to keep it operating for future generations. He sat down for a short interview after his speech. Issa’s plan is the most comprehensive proposal put forward—and also more politically palatable than the plan offered …
Heritage welcomes Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, for today’s Bloggers Briefing at noon ET. The event is available on Ustream.tv. Follow the action live on Twitter using the #TBB hashtag. Hultgren is a freshman from Illinois’ 14th District in the northern part of the state. He came to Washington this year focused on cleaning up the fiscal mess, achieving real health care reform and enacting pro-growth policies. Perkins, meanwhile, joins us to preview the star-studded Values Voter Summit from Friday through Sunday. …
Political and technological changes have a history of going hand in hand. Technology empowers individuals to overcome their isolation and connect to share ideas, information, hopes, and dreams. The most recent phenomenon in this long history (which dates back at least as far as the Gutenberg printing press) is the Arab revolt that has swept the Middle East since last December, brought on by a generation of cell phone and social media users. How to deal with this phenomenon—and how to help steer it toward a pro-democratic outcome—are challenges for …
What did the President know and when did he know it, goes the old Washington adage. Thus did the American people learn yesterday in separate but equally startling revelations that the Obama Administration knew more about two scandals than it has been revealing. The first is regarding the Operation Fast and Furious gun running disaster and the second is the now-bankrupt, Obama-backed Solyndra solar power company. Both instances provoke serious questions for the White House and demand long-overdue action. In the case of the Solyndra scandal, it is clear that …
While the Energy Department’s efforts to create “green jobs” have received significant attention – and criticism – since the collapse of solar company Solyndra, another federal agency may soon be in the spotlight for its lackluster performance in stimulating the economy through employment in the green technology sector. The Labor Department’s “Green Jobs Program,” designed to train workers for employment in the field, has placed 8,034 trainees, according to a report from the department’s inspector general. That is less than 10 percent of its target placement rate. What’s more, 39 …
Listen to last Sunday’s Heritage Libertad Radio Show in Spanish or English. The Spanish segment kicked off with a discussion of President Obama’s recent speech to the Congressional Black Caucus, including his insistence on raising taxes on the rich. Later on we take member questions: How much interest on the debt are we paying every year? How long with it take to repeal Obamacare? The English segment kicked off with a discussion of terrorism, including the death sentence of a Christian pastor in Iran. Afterward, we take a look at some new revelations …
Justice Department memos obtained by CBS News show that Attorney General Eric Holder was aware of a controversial cross-border law enforcement operation in July 2010 – nearly a year earlier than he had previously acknowledged. Holder told congressional investigators in May that he had first heard of the operation only weeks before. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2011, Holder said that he had “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The Fast and Furious operation allowed “straw buyers” – …
Young women in America are decidedly financially conservative, according to a new poll by Generation Opportunity. Some in this group, ages 18–29, have lived their college and professional lives for the past four years in a state of perpetual economic downturn. It’s no wonder this age group is opposed to more federal spending and feels un-represented by elected officials in Washington. As Heritage’s Robert Bluey and William Beach point out, they are part of the “debt-paying generation”—those who will be burdened by massive national debt by no fault of their …
