Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi announced his resignation Tuesday after Italy’s ruling coalition lost its majority in the lower house. Although parliament voted to pass a key austerity budget bill demanded by the European Union, the government suffered a series of defections which made Berlusconi’s long-term position untenable. As the London Daily Telegraph reported: More than half of the members of the Italian lower house refused to take part in the vote, laying bare Mr Berlusconi’s lack of support in parliament as financial pressure from the eurozone debt crisis continued …
Republican candidates will gather for a debate on foreign policy and national defense on Nov. 22 at DAR Constitution Hall. The debate, presented by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute on CNN, will be moderated by Wolf Blitzer. Constitution Hall, located across the street from the White House, was built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution for its annual convention. Today it is one of the largest event venues in Washington, D.C. The debate will include eight Republican presidential candidates: businessman Herman Cain, former Massachusetts Gov. …
Are mobile phones and Internet access necessities that require taxpayers to foot the bill for the supposed “have-nots”? The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) evidently thinks so. The FCC voted unanimously to phase out subsidies for traditional telephone service and instead use $5 billion annually from the “Universal Service Fund” (USF) to equip residents of rural areas with mobile phones and Internet access. With traditional telephone service now available everywhere, it’s predictable that the commission would concoct another scheme to keep its USF taxing power intact. But there’s little evidence that …
The Legatum Institute has just released its 2011 Prosperity Index. The index has a number of strengths, topped by the versatility of its supporting Web site. But Legatum has trumpeted an inaccurate finding that China has eclipsed the U.S. on the narrow economic dimension of its measure of prosperity. This finding demonstrates the problems with comparing China to other countries, as so much Chinese data are unusable. Some of Legatum’s numbers are clearly wrong; others are probably wrong. The Legatum economic sub-index uses data from other sources on 15 economic …
In a case decided yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously reversed a judgment of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that had freed an inmate in Ohio, on the ground that the introduction at trial of his confession violated Miranda v. Arizona. The Supreme Court decision in Bobby v. Dixon should prove considerably useful to law enforcement authorities in three ways. The facts of the case describe a gruesome murder. Archie Dixon and an accomplice, Tim Hoffner, tied up Chris Hammer, beat him, and …
The true colors of the Occupy Wall Street movement are starting to shine through, both in actions and affiliations. The picture that is developing is one of increasing violence married with extremist affiliations that is anything but representative of the 99 percent of Americans the movement claims to stand for. On Friday night in Washington, D.C., the Occupy protests turned violent when activists marched on the city’s convention center in opposition to an annual summit held by the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation. Forbes reports on the conflict: Occupiers, many of …
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) recently delivered a blistering critique of President Obama’s Russia “reset” strategy. “Over the last two and a half years,” he said, Russia “has been the beneficiary of American outreach and engagement. [Yet it] has continued to expand its physical, political, and economic presence…under the guise of…a ‘sphere of influence.’ “Within Russia, control is the order of the day, with key industries nationalized, the independent media repressed, and the loyal opposition beaten and jailed. Russia uses natural resources as a political weapon. And it …
The Census Bureau’s new poverty measure is another tool in President Obama’s endless quest to “spread the wealth.” Although the media portray it as a more accurate measurement of poverty, in reality it deliberately severs all connection between “poverty” and actual deprivation. The new measure places income thresholds for poverty on a built-in escalator that rises automatically in direct proportion to any improvement in the living standards of the average American. So even if the real income of every single American were to double, the new measure would show no …
With nine days to go before the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces default, a Senate committee on Wednesday is expected to vote on a new plan to address the crisis. The plan takes a few steps in the right direction, but it falls short of the comprehensive reform that is needed. The immediate problem for USPS is a $5.5 billion payment to the federal treasury to fund retiree health benefits that is due on November 18, and it doesn’t have the money to pay. But USPS’s problem is much deeper …
