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Nobel Peace Prize: Rally for Liu Xiaobo

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Heritage Foundation - By Conn Carroll - Dec. 09 (News Analysis) - The Norwegian Nobel Committee is set to award the Nobel Peace Prize this Friday to author and 1989 Tiananmen protest participant Liu Xiaobo. But Liu will not attend. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence for co-authoring the Charter 08 manifesto calling for protection of human rights, comprehensive political reforms, and a democratic government in China. In the past, the Nobel Committee has presented the prize to family members of the award winner. But that is not possible this year. Liu’s wife and dozens of friends and colleagues have all been placed under house arrest by Chinese security forces to prevent them from attending the ceremony. That means this will be the first time that the prize ceremony will lack a presentation since 1935, when Nazi Germany barred pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending.

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Remember the Gulf

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Rory Cooper - Jul. 06 (News Analysis) - Remember 9/11. Remember Katrina. Remember Haiti. Often, after a disaster of epic proportions, we are urged to remember the victims and the lessons of how to avoid a similar catastrophe. These reminders are necessary because after the moment of impact passes, people’s attention is drawn to other major events. Rarely ever, however, is the phrase used while the crisis continues unabated; while the administration that the media needs to hold accountable flounders in a sea of ineptitude, red tape and finger pointing. Yes, we’re talking about the Gulf oil spill. It may be the first time in U.S. history that a president and the national media’s attention need to be refocused on a crisis while it is still, in fact, underway. Remember the Gulf.

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Sen. Hatch Calls for Repeal of Obamacare Mandates

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Vincent Coglianese - Jun. 27 (Opinion) - “I’ve been working to dismantle Obamacare,” declared Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “We have to fight this terrible law that’s a threat to liberty itself.” These comments came during a June 21st blogger conference call held by Sen. Hatch in which he sought to rally support for two bills aimed at representing “a strategic attack on the central tenants of Obamacare.”

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Glacier Melting not from Climate Change? - Heritage.org (blog)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:33:01 -0700

Heritage Foundation - Jun. 22 - Daily MailGlacier Melting not from Climate Change?Heritage.org (blog)“The discovery of the ridge has raised new questions about whether the current loss of ice from Pine Island Glacier is caused by recent climate change or is ...Antarctic Glacier Melting Not Due to Climate ChangeTopNews United StatesAntarctic glacier melting due to hidden ice ridgeDaily MailShedding Light On Melting Pine Island GlacierRedOrbitABC News?-Discover Magazine (blog)all 94 news articles??

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Vietnam information on economic freedom

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - Apr. 21 (Editorial) - Vietnam’s economic freedom score is 49.8, making its economy the 144th freest in the 2010 Index.

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Barack Obama's Top 10 Apologies: How the President Has Humiliated a Superpower

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Nile Gardiner, Morgan Roach - Jun. 02 (Editorial) - A common theme that runs through President Obama's statements is the idea the United States must atone for its past policies, whether it is America's application of the war against Islamist terrorism or its overall foreign policy. At the core of this message is the concept that the U.S. is a flawed nation that must seek redemption by apologizing for its past "sins." On several occasions, President Obama has sought to apologize for the actions of his own country when addressing a foreign audience--including seven of the 10 apologies listed below. The President has already apologized for his country to nearly 3 billion people across Europe, the Muslim world, and the Americas. The Obama Administration's strategy of unconditional engagement with America's enemies combined with a relentless penchant for apology-making is a dangerous recipe for failure. The overall effect of this approach has been to weaken American power on the world stage rather than strengthen it.

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The AIG Clawback: Possibly Unconstitutional, Doubtlessly Imprudent

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Andrew M. Grossman - Mar. 19 (Opinion) - To that end, the Court has stated that a bill of attainder is any law that inflicts punishment on "named individuals or to easily ascertainable members of a group" without a judicial trial.[2] The punishment may be of a criminal nature, such as imprisonment or death, or it may be civil, such as denying an individual compensation.[3]

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Ten Reasons Why the "Economic Stimulus" Should Not Include Education Spending

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Heritage Foundation - Jan. 26 (Special Report) - House Democrats recently unveiled draft legisla tion for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[1] Widely touted as an economic stimulus package, the $825 billion draft legislation included as much as $142 billion for education.[2] This includes the creation of a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to assist state governments in providing public educa tion and other services. The act also includes signifi cant spending increases for current and proposed federal programs for K-12, postsecondary, and early childhood education. This approach is bad economic policy and bad education policy. An unprecedented federal spending increase for education will not improve economic growth--and past experience strongly suggests that this plan will not improve American educational per formance. Instead of a massive federal spending increase, Congress should embrace fiscally responsi ble solutions to help states meet fiscal challenges and improve educational services.

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Economic Freedom as a Human Right

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Kim R. Holmes - Jul. 24 (Editorial) - The Heritage Foundation founded the Index of Economic Freedom in 1995 as a way for countries to measure progress and compare themselves in what we believe is an essential ingredient of prosperity- namely, economic freedom. The Index is now in its 14th edition, and it is co-published with the Wall Street Journal.[1] Over the years, it has been interesting to see how competitive some countries have become regarding their own scores in the Index. In fact, sometimes gov ernments actually try to persuade us to give them a better score. We steadfastly refuse to be lobbied or unduly influenced, of course; yet some countries per sist nonetheless. And in spite of this occasional overzealousness, having countries compete to be the freest economies in the world is in itself a very good thing! Today, I wish to frame my remarks about the Index in light of the topic we are addressing here: human rights. But first, I'd like to say a few words about what you will find in this year's Index, for those who may not be as familiar with it. Each year, Heritage strives to make the Index a more precise measure of economic freedom. We examine 10 factors, such as property rights, freedom to trade, and freedom from government regulation. Each factor is scored on scale of 1 to 100; the scores are weighted equally; and then they are averaged to determine a country's overall economic freedom score. Those who have followed the Index over the years know that we continually fine-tune the methodology and vet any changes we want to make with an adviso ry board of economists and members of the acade my before they are incorporated. Then we go back and rescore the countries' past scores so compari sons can be consistently made over time. This year, we graded 157 countries for which we had good data. And what did we find? Well, sadly I must report that economic freedom is still a relatively rare commodity in the world.

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The World Is Powering Up While America Powers Down

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - Jul. 24 (Opinion) - The economy is by far the No. 1 issue on most Americans' minds. Gas prices are a close second. The two issues are intimately related. But the spike in oil prices this year is just the tip of the iceberg. Due to similar developments in supply and demand, electricity prices are set to skyrocket next year.

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The Left's Crony Capitalism Exposed

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - Jul. 14 (Opinion) - For years, conservatives have been critical of how Fannie, and Freddie Mac, have leveraged their government-sponsored advantages (including exemptions from state and federal taxes, lower capital requirements, and the ability to borrow at rates well below those paid by private companies), to create a co-monopoly in the housing finance sector. When Fannie's accounting scandal came to light in 2004, conservatives pushed hard for reforms to phase out Fannie and Freddie. Led by former Walter Mondale and Barack Obama campaign adviser James Johnson, Fannie and Freddie pushed back hard, raising millions of dollars for members of the relevant oversight committees and opening up "Partnership Offices" that funneled money into various housing projects in districts of key members of Congress.

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U.S. Policy and Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons: Containing Threats and Encouraging Regional Security

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 09:15:20 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Lisa Curtis - Jul. 09 (Statement) - The potential for the intersection of terrorism and nuclear weapons is arguably the greatest threat to American national, even global, security. As the U.S. seeks to deter the possibility of terrorists gaining access to nuclear weapons, it must consider carefully its policies toward Pakistan. The results of investigations into Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan's nuclear black market and proliferation network demonstrate in stark terms the devastating consequences of nuclear proliferation by individuals with access to state-controlled nuclear programs.

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Amnesty Will Cost U.S. Taxpayers at Least $2.6 Trillion

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Heritage Foundation - By Robert Rector - Jun. 06 (Opinion) - The Senate is currently considering a massive immigration reform bill, the "Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and immigration Reform Act of 2007" (S. 1348). This bill would grant amnesty to nearly all illegal immigrants currently in the United States.

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A Triple Whammy in Tax Hikes

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 07:28:18 -0800

Heritage Foundation - By Rea S. Hederman, Jr., William W. Beach, Alison Acosta Fraser - Feb. 01 (Editorial) - With the Democratic majority in Congress considering new spending plans, there is renewed concern in Washington about whether Congress will raise revenues to pay for new spending. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has specifically endorsed increasing taxes on wealthy taxpayers, and other potential tax increases have been mentioned. The House leadership is reportedly discussing raising the Social Security wage cap and repealing some of the Bush tax cuts. Meanwhile, millions of Americans will be sucked into the vortex of the onerous Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Each of these proposals would raise taxes on millions of Americans and harm the economy. Taken together, they would create a triple whammy that would subject millions of Americans to three tax hikes at once.

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New CBO Baseline Substantially Understates Grim Budget Picture

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 02:49:35 -0800

Heritage Foundation - Jan. 27 (News Analysis) - The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects a balanced budget by 2012. A number of CBO’s assumptions underlying this projection are, to say the least, problematic. For example, CBO’s projections assume that all of the President’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as all other temporary tax cuts, are allowed...

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