For President Barack Obama, 2011 began with a bang — a bold pronouncement that his green dream for America would bring forth a jobs explosion and a new economy fueled by alternative energy, a vision he likened to President John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” in the 1960s. Much to Obama’s chagrin, the year has ended in a whimper with his green energy “sun shot” sputtering to the ground before it even took off. The President set the bar awfully high in his State of the Union Address last January, hailing …
As the year draws to a close, we take a look back at a few of the victories and challenges for religious liberty during the past 12 months and look forward to greater respect and protection for religious liberty in 2012. HHS “Preventive Service” Mandate In August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a rule that forces nearly all private health care plans to include coverage for certain contraceptives and surgical sterilization. The mandate’s threat to religious freedom has already caused a stir in the nation’s capital …
As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights celebrated a birthday this month, it is worth noting how this document—noble in its original intentions—is often reinterpreted by advocates of a host of issues, resulting in a laundry list of new rights claims and corresponding government responsibilities thrust upon the 193 U.N. member states. Two prime examples of this misuse concern the rights to life and religious liberty, natural rights often sacrificed to any number of social causes. With regard to abortion, the right to life promised to “everyone” in the Universal …
The Justice Department’s lawsuit against South Carolina has rekindled political war over state voter identification laws. While the merits of the suit will surely be hashed out in the political arena, the Supreme Court has in fact weighed in on the constitutional arguments offered by opponents of voter ID laws, and found them wanting. In light of the issue’s prevalence, it’s worth revisiting that decision to see what the nation’s highest court had to say about voter ID laws. Opponents of those laws usually make a pair of arguments against them: they claim …
Toyota recently announced it will begin exporting U.S.-built Camry cars and Sienna minivans to South Korea from plants located in Kentucky and Indiana. The cars will be shipped through the Port of Hueneme—ironically, one of the California ports that Occupy Wall Street protestors recently attempted to shut down. Some people may wonder why Toyota would ship U.S.-built cars 7,000 miles to South Korea instead of shipping Japanese-built cars 130 miles across the Korean Strait. One reason is the recently approved the South Korea–U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), which reduces South …
Hindsight is supposed to be 20/20, but looking back on the past 12 months, it’s tough to see any sense in many of the Administration’s regulatory missteps. Of course, there are bound to be a few howlers when government churns out more than 3,500 rules in a year, including dozens unleashed by Obamacare, Dodd–Frank, and the perpetually errant Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But by any standard, 2011 brought forth a remarkable number and variety of regulatory blunders. Fair warning: Our Top 10 list may prove fatal to any bit of …
Would you be outraged if the Department of Justice shut down The Foundry without any warning and blocked access for more than a year? That’s exactly what happened to a hip-hop blog called Dajaz1.com, which was falsely accused of criminal copyright infringement. The blog posted music from artists promoting their work. But federal authorities viewed it differently. They seized the domain name, then shared virtually no information with its owner for more than year. Only recently did they quietly drop the case. The government’s handling of this hip-hop blog is …
The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas sat down with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) to talk about the rise of the Tea Party and its confrontation with the Washington establishment. “The Tea Party movement has been enormously constructive,” Toomey said the in the interview. “After we had the most liberal elected government in the history of the republic, take this lurch to the left and try to remake American society along the lines of the European welfare state, what we had was this wonderful spontaneous uprising.” Toomey said he hoped Tea Party …
Attorney General Eric Holder put a lump of coal in South Carolina’s Christmas stocking on Dec. 23 when he objected to the state’s new voter ID law. By ignoring inconvenient facts and clear legal precedent, Holder showed once again that politics and ideology—not the rule of law—drive his law enforcement decisions. Given the power of the Justice Department and its potential for abuse, this should worry all Americans, particularly when that abuse has the potential to affect the outcome of next year’s election. South Carolina passed a voter ID law …
How does marriage fare as the nation heads into the new year? Unfortunately, the most recent government data indicate that U.S. marriage rates are at an all-time low. Today, a little more than half of all Americans are currently married, compared to more than 70 percent five decades ago. Additionally, the age at first marriage among both men and women is at historic highs. Related to these trends, the unwed birthrate is also at a historic high (more than 40 percent). On the bright side, however, the research indicates that …
