Americans hitting the road this week are likely to encounter the highest-ever price for gas at Christmas in history. According to figures from AAA, the nationwide average for regular unleaded is $3.21 per gallon — an increase of 23 cents over last year’s Christmas record. This marks the second straight year Americans are paying more at the pump during the holidays. The price in 2009 was around $2.60 per gallon and jumped to about $3 per gallon at Christmas last year. These higher prices aren’t grabbing headlines as they once …
Politics is home to some pretty exaggerated accusations, and this year was no exception, particularly in the area of health care. Case in point: Democrats’ claim that “Republicans voted to end Medicare.” In fact, the assertion was so off the wall that PolitiFact.com named it “Lie of the Year 2011.” Democrats made the claim about House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) FY 2012 “Path to Prosperity” budget, which included a proposal to provide premium support to Medicare enrollees, helping them to purchase a health care plan of their choice. …
As the clock counts down toward Christmas, Congress still has major unfinished business to attend to. Not that we should be surprised. Emblematic of a resoundingly disappointing year, the last remaining issue to be resolved directly affects the pocketbooks of Americans. Just days from now, the payroll tax “holiday” will expire. At the same time, fees for physicians and hospitals providing Medicare services will be severely cut and additional weeks of unemployment benefits for long-term unemployed will run out. It’s not like these expirations were unexpected. These issues have been …
It’s rather remarkable, really, how willing federal bureaucrats are to block business deals that they speculate will cause price hikes and yet give nary a thought to foisting more than a trillion dollars annually in regulatory costs on the public. That’s one takeaway from the news that AT&T has scrapped its proposed $39 billion acquisition of struggling T-Mobile USA (from Deutsche Telekom AG) after a bruising nine-month battle with the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. Bureaucrats at both agencies concluded that the deal could (maybe, perhaps) hurt …
Florida’s Medicaid Reform Pilot is pro-patient and pro-taxpayer, and the Obama Administration agrees. In original research published by The Heritage Foundation and also submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) during the agency’s deliberations, I showed that the program’s patients are healthier and happier with their care and that Florida taxpayers saved more than $100 million each year of the program. The Florida reforms work by giving patients a choice of the private health plan that works best for them. Enrollees can choose from plans with varied …
On a Saturday in late October in Kabul, Afghanistan, a car carrying explosives rammed into an armored U.S. military bus, killing 13 Americans, including five soldiers and eight civilian staff. In August, a Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans. Who was responsible? The Taliban. And who now says the Taliban is not America’s enemy? Vice President Joseph Biden. In an interview with Newsweek, Biden laid out his — and the Administration’s view — of the Taliban: Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s …
The passing of the modern Czech Republic’s first President, Vaclav Havel, will be mourned the world over, for the legendary leader of the Velvet Revolution was no ordinary politician—he was a world statesman. Few others were as passionate or gifted in articulating a vision of a free and open Czechoslovakia throughout the communist years. Havel gave voice to the ideals of individualism, human rights, and democratic accountability. Written in 1978 to inspire fellow freedom fighters across Europe, “The Power of the Powerless” will remain in the annals of literary political …
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is knee-deep in allegations that she used her influence to personally enrich herself and her family since becoming speaker of the House in 2007. Scribe reported last week that Pelosi stands to benefit financially from major energy legislation called the NAT GAS Act. Pelosi, who once promised to lead “the most honest, most open, most ethical Congress in history,” has engaged in some ethically questionable decisions since making that pledge. The latest revelation: Pelosi promoted as an economic “expert” suited to guide congressional policy …
The cause of freedom lost a passionate advocate with the death of former Czech president, dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel. President Havel inspired freedom-loving peoples throughout Europe in 1989, the “year of miracles.” Defying one of the most brutal and repressive regimes in history, Havel led Czechoslovakia from the darkness of Soviet totalitarianism to the light of democracy. Small wonder that he was one of the first recipients of the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, awarded by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. In the years that followed, Mr. Havel became …
In recognition of the 63rd anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, President Obama proclaimed this week Human Rights Week. Americans know a thing or two about rights, considering that the country was founded on the self-evident truth that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” But, when the President invokes human rights, is he talking about the same concepts from the Declaration of Independence? That is to say, are human rights the same as natural rights? At the …
