Another round of leaked e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Climatic Research Unit have surfaced, once again illustrating why governments should not be making serious policy decisions based on mainstream climate science. Several of the following excerpts not only call into question conventional “climate change” wisdom but also suggest the selective use of information with an agenda in mind: Observations do not show rising temperatures throughout the tropical troposphere unless you accept one single study and approach and discount a wealth of others. This is just downright dangerous. …
After months upon months of unemployment stuck at or above 9 percent, the American people may finally see a sliver of relief in today’s jobs report from the Department of Labor. The report suggests the month of November saw 120,000 net new jobs created and the unemployment rate drop to 8.6 percent–driven in part by the 315,000 people who have given up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. That news is cold comfort to the 13.3 million Americans who are still out of work and the 402,000 workers …
It’s been a mixed day in the world of the American auto industry. While Ford Motor posted huge sales for November — propelled by a strong demand for SUVs — General Motors has been forced to make the unusual offer of buying back cars from consumers. Tom Krisher at the Associated Press reports that GM is taking action in response to news that its highly touted electric Chevy Volts have been found to catch fire: In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, CEO Dan Akerson insisted that the cars …
The Super Committee failed to meet its Thanksgiving to cut $1.2 Trillion from the federal budget. Now what? Click here to join our live “Lunch with Heritage” online chat. We are joined by Heritage’s Director of Economic Policy Studies Alison Fraser. She is taking your questions about why the Super Committee failed, the next steps, and what they should focus on. Lunch with Heritage feat. Alison Fraser
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez will host what is billed as the founding conference of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) December 2–3 on the grounds of Venezuela’s largest military base. The ailing Chavez, whose very public battle with an undisclosed form of cancer has given rise to a mountain of speculation about his survival and whose reelection in October 2012 remains in doubt, hopes to demonstrate he will dominate the Latin American scene for months and years to come. In the run-up to the gathering, Chavez is billing …
In January 2012, Medicare physicians face a 27.4 percent cut in their payment for treating senior and disabled citizens. Congress, as it has routinely since 2003, is feverishly preparing legislation to stop its own goofy Medicare payment formula from going into effect. If they don’t succeed this year, seniors can be assured of severe problems accessing physician care. The reason Congress goes through this silly routine almost every year is that it is unable or unwilling to make serious changes in the Medicare program. Today, Medicare payment for doctors is …
You camped out by Best Buy for Black Friday, perused the neighborhood shops on Small Business Saturday, crashed the computer on Cyber Monday, but still didn’t get a gift for your father-in-law, stocking stuffers (that aren’t socks), or a good book to survive that four-hour layover in Atlanta. You need the First Principles gift list. We have collected the top 10 books from our list: Religious Liberty in the American Republic by Gerard V. Bradley: Whether your celebrations involve a menorah, a manger scene, or performing feats of strength for …
This morning, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a full committee hearing to investigate claims of gross politicization of a grant process that stripped funding for a group effectively serving human trafficking victims. In late September, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ceased funding for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) work with victims of sex slavery and trafficking. The bishops’ group had been using HHS funds to assist trafficking victims since 2006. While HHS has not specified a reason for denying USCCB further funding, …
“Occupy Wall Street” protesters turned out at a glitzy New York City fundraiser for President Obama on Wednesday. That spurred a number of news outlets to declare that protesters had “turned on” the president. But is it true? Despite their ruckus, protesters’ outrage was directed in large measure not at President Obama, but simply at the people attending his fundraiser. There was a sense among the folks quoted by New York news outlets that Obama shouldn’t be meeting with and raising money from Wall Street bankers. In other words, the …
The vast majority of American adults hold a definite belief in God. Yet, despite this persistence of belief in America and the important place of religious practice in civil society, an increasingly narrow view of religion is threatening to force faith out of the public square. Consider the recent mandate by the Department of Health and Human Services that will require almost all insurance providers to cover contraceptives, sterilization procedures, and education and counseling regarding such services—without cost to the insured. The rule includes mandatory coverage of ethically controversial drugs like …
