“This project is exactly the type of initiative we need to ensure Nevada creates good-paying jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said of a geothermal plant to be built in his home state. A year and a half and $145 million in taxpayer financing later, and the company that built the plant is in dire financial straits. A recent audit by Deloitte & Touche expressed “significant doubt” about Nevada Geothermal Power’s “ability to continue as a going concern.” The company’s vital signs are not looking good: it “has incurred …
Ready to fork over some of your hard-earned dollars to help the United Nations construct a new building — and for New York City to build a new park? Well then you’re in luck. Heritage’s Brett Schaefer writes at National Review Online that the U.N. is erecting a new building next to its existing tower in Manhattan, on an existing playground. The U.N. hasn’t provided the Obama administration or Congress an official cost estimate for the project or a detailed justification of the need for the building, but Schaefer says earlier estimates pegged …
Catching you up on clips, commentary and news of the day. Sign up for the daily email update from Scribe. At 50, the Chinook remains the Army’s workhorse – Michael Hoffman, Army Times Graves eyes upper rungs of conservative ladder – Daniel Malloy, The Atlantic Journal-Constitution Lawmakers: Revamp disaster recovery system – Deborah Barfield Berry, Clarion Ledger A major victory, but the battle rages on – Peter Brookes, New York Post The green-jobs fallacy – Ed Feulner, St. Paul Pioneer Press Obamanomics: Hollow out defense, fatten up cronies – James …
The Obama Administration’s commitment to maintain the U.S. strategic triad appears to be fading, writes Mark Schneider, former special assistant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the New Strategic Arms Control Treaty (New START) negotiations. Indeed, experts at The Heritage Foundation have been pointing out problems with the Administration’s commitment since it announced its plans to sustain the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Unfortunately, it seems that the White House’s commitment will not survive the first year after the treaty entered into force. During the New START debate, …
A young Iranian pastor currently faces the death penalty for refusing to recant his Christian faith. Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was charged with apostasy for supposedly converting from Islam as a teenager and was sentenced to death last week when he refused to renounce his beliefs before the Iranian Supreme Court. The international community, including the U.S. State Department, has expressed outrage at Iran’s blatant disregard for human rights and continued oppression of religious freedom. A husband and father of two young children, Nadarkhani has been imprisoned since October 2009, when …
The Senate is today considering a bill to punish China for its currency policy. The bill requires the U.S. to place duties on Chinese goods if the exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar isn’t brought to a level Congress finds suitable. It is vague on that level, on timing, and on basic logic. There are serious issues in our economic relationship with the Chinese, but the Senate bill won’t address any of them. China’s currency policy doesn’t cost American jobs. In fact, 20 years of figures appear to …
The U.S. Navy has approved contracts to finish building the hulls of the second and third ships of the Zumwalt class of guided-missile destroyers being constructed at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Maine. The $1.8 billion contract will also fund systems integration of the DDG-1001 Michael Monsoor and DDG-1002. The second ship of the class is named after the late Navy SEAL Michael A. Monsoor, who received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life for his fellow SEAL team members in Iraq. Despite the fact that the military …
Do you know all the laws of the United States? Do you know all the laws of each of the 50 states (not to mention the assorted territories, Indian reservations, and other enclaves)? Probably not. And yet “ignorance of the law is no excuse” has been a maxim of criminal law since time immemorial. The result is an ever-expanding discretion for prosecutors – who now can pick a target for an investigation and then scour the statutes for a suitable crime with which to charge him. As Lavrenti Beria, Stalin’s …
Use a debit card? Now it’s really going to cost you. Bank of America announced last week that it will begin charging customers $5 per month for use of their debit cards. But if you’re looking for someone to blame, set your sights on Washington. Bank of America is imposing the new fee in anticipation of a $2 billion annual loss brought about by the “Durbin Amendment” — a provision of last year’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street financial reform bill. Signed into law in July 2010, the measure was intended to …
The critical importance of committed fatherhood to the well-being of children is the theme of “Courageous,” the latest little faith-based movie that could from Georgia-based brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick. The film made a strong beginning at hitting home: “Courageous” was Fandango’s weeklong king of advance ticket sales as it opened Friday on more than 1,150 screens. The movie is the fourth increasingly polished offering from the Kendrick brothers’ Sherwood Pictures, makers of the Christian-themed “Flywheel,” “Facing the Giants” and “Fireproof.” In “Courageous,” four sheriff’s deputies and an out-of-work carpenter must …
