The “Occupy DC” protest group is planning to disrupt the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference using a range of potentially illegal tactics that could even include violence against participants, Scribe has learned. The planned disruptions at CPAC come only days after U.S. Park Police raided Occupiers’ tent cities at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., confiscating a number of tents, and prohibiting Occupiers from camping out there any longer. During a Thursday meeting at McPherson Square, until Saturday the epicenter of the protests, Occupiers brainstormed tactics for shutting …
Think back 20 years ago. What were you doing? Whatever answer you came up with, it probably had nothing to do with the Internet, which was just coming of age. As James Carafano points out in his article in the Washington Examiner today, the discovery a valuable new world brings with it the need to protect that world. Nearly everything in our lives today is connected to the Internet. You possibly woke up to your iPhone buzzing from an e-mail from your boss and then turned on the lights that …
House Cloakroom: February 6 – February 10 Analysis: This week the House the will consider legislation to sell off civilian property it owns, institute a line-item veto and ban congressional insider trading. The week will begin with the Civilian Property Realignment Act, which would create a BRAC-like process to determine the usefulness of government owned property and which of those properties can be sold off. The Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Recessions Act would allow the President to propose specific recessions and have those voted on by Congress in an …
New legislation introduced in the U.S. House yesterday would prohibit the use of federal money for advertisements attacking products like Coke and Pepsi. Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) introduced the bill to counter a growing trend of anti-obesity ads that are funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Scribe reported in October the money was included in President Obama’s economic stimulus law. The federal government has provided $230 million in funding to at least 25 communities for a …
Members of Congress will vote Wednesday to freeze their salaries through 2013 and impose the same pay limitation on non-military federal workers. The vote in the U.S. House comes just two days after the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that federal workers are paid 16 percent more in total compensation — a conclusion similar to research conducted by The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute. “Study after study has shown that when compared to the private sector, the federal government on average pays more than required to recruit and retain a …
The noon deadline for Occupy DC protesters to clear out their camping gear came and went today. By mid-afternoon, National Park Service police had declined to move in and enforce the law. Far from clearing McPherson Square, the hub of the protest’s Washington activity, occupiers draped a large blue tarp over the statue of General James McPherson, which sits at the center of the park. For months, the Park Service had insisted that occupiers’ overnight presence at the park – which appeared to be a violation of statutes prohibiting camping …
House Cloakroom: January 30 – February 3 Analysis: This week will be a busy week on the House floor. They will begin today by voting to send the FAA reauthorization to conference. The houses are still working to resolve dispute over a pro-labor ruling recently made by the National Mediation Board. The most significant bill on the floor this week will be a repeal of the CLASS Act. The CLASS Act is a long term care entitlement program that was included in Obamacare. Recently the Department of Health and Human …
President Obama used his State of the Union address Tuesday to outline his idea of fairness. To put it simply, that means redistributing wealth by raising taxes on the most successful Americans. “If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes,” Obama declared. He added: “Now, you can call this class warfare all you want. But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense.” Heritage’s Curtis Dubay …
During his State of the Union speech, President Obama introduced a new plan to save responsible homeowner $3,000 a year on their mortgages by refinancing at historically low interest rates. Americans would be wise to be cautious, however, about the new efforts by the federal government. The federal government’s previous intervention in the market has distorted the housing market’s natural forces and postponed the economic recovery. So far, government interventions and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cost taxpayers $300 billion. The new plan may cost taxpayers …
President Obama made a number of questionable statements in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Heritage experts took on some of the policy issues he raised, but we at Scribe thought we would address the simple factual accuracy of 10 of the more outlandish statements from the president. Quotes are drawn from the president’s prepared remarks. Claim: “On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I …
