The transparency of some anti-defense ploys boggles the imagination. The most recent one has to do with the production rates of the new F-35 multi-role fighter. This aircraft will replace several of the worn-out fighters of the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps that are sometimes older than the pilots who fly them. The multi-role abilities of the F-35 will benefit the readiness and war fighting capabilities of all the branches of service and will markedly improve national security at a time when threats are increasing in number and magnitude. …
This year’s National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C., will have a special focus on Iraq veterans—and a way to participate if you can’t make it to the capital. Following the formal end of the Iraq war last year, the American Veterans Center (AVC), which organizes the parade, is partnering with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) to make sure men and women are welcomed home. “With troops still deployed in harm’s way, it is imperative that we show our support and gratitude as a nation,” said James …
In its ceaseless quest to protect us from ourselves, Congress in 2009 compelled credit card companies to confirm an applicant’s “ability to pay” before approving an account. Lawmakers evidently believe that Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and the like somehow lack incentive to manage their own credit risk. (As opposed to, say, the elected officials who have racked up $1.2 trillion in national debt this year.) In any event, the Federal Reserve Board subsequently issued the specific regulations called for in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD). While the …
It’s commencement time again: rows of folding chairs, the polyester cap and gown, a dozen of your closest relatives listening intently for your name, and of course the big name speaker. Georgetown’s School of Public Policy has Kathleen Sebelius, Columbia Law has umm, uhhh, Solicitor General Don Verilli, and Barnard College booked President Obama. These speeches are mostly opportunities to get a little good press coverage and encourage the next generation to join AmeriCorps or recycle. Today, in 1964, though, one President’s commencement speech ushered in a new stage of …
Is cable news network MSNBC complicit in the death of Trayvon Martin? The suggestion, of course, is absurd. But under the same logic that liberals have used to tie Koch Industries to the Martin shooting, companies like General Electric and Comcast—owners of MSNBC—would be just as responsible. The issue arose during a testy interview on MSNBC last week between commentator Martin Bashir and Mark Holden, general counsel for Koch Industries. Karen Finney, a substitute host on Bashir’s program, had previously suggested that Koch Industries, because it supports the American Legislative …
Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform View more presentations from The Heritage Foundation Heritage’s new chart series, “Medicare at Risk: Visualizing the Need for Reform,” shows that, without the necessary structural reform, Medicare’s finances will have devastating consequences on the federal budget, not to mention taxpayers and seniors alike. Medicare’s Impact on the Budget. Medicare spending is rising faster than any other part of the federal budget, and it’s a major driver of runaway deficit spending in the not-so-distant future. Retiring baby boomers and rising health care costs …
President Obama’s proposal to keep interest rates on one type of student loans below market level obscures the fact that, if Taxmageddon strikes, the tax hike young adults entering the workforce would face would vastly outpace the savings they might enjoy from Congress continuing to subsidize their interest rates. Taxmageddon is a massive tax hike that will strike all taxpayers—and the economy—on January 1, 2013, unless Congress and President Obama act to stop it. It is made up of a series of expiring tax policies, such as the Bush tax …
Having spent nearly 30 years as a doctor in Oklahoma, Sen. Tom Coburn thinks like a physician even when he’s working in the nation’s capital. He identifies symptoms that manifest from a disease. And when it comes to our nation’s debt crisis, that disease is the political class in Washington. Coburn outlines this critique in a new book called “The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America.” He visits The Heritage Foundation to speak at The Bloggers Briefing today at noon ET. Breitbart TV will air …
The House Armed Services Committee clearly acted in the U.S. interest when it voted to modernize the Smith–Mundt Act last week, as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Since 1948, Smith–Mundt has prohibited agencies of the U.S. government from informing the U.S. public in print or on the airwaves about their activities. In the age of the information revolution and the global war of ideas, these prohibitions have become obsolete and worse. As noted by Juliana Pilon in the Heritage paper “Obsolete Restrictions on Public Diplomacy Hurt U.S. …
The Department of Health and Human Services has inked a $20 million contract with a top public-relations firm to sell aspects of the Obamacare law to the American public. According to a report in PR Week, HHS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has awarded the contract to PR firm Porter Novelli. The firm has offices worldwide, and boasts PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as existing clients. According to The Hill, the Porter Novelli campaign is “designed to educate the public about how to stay healthy and …
