This weekend’s EU-wide elections for the 736-seat European Parliament generated the lowest turnout in the legislative body’s 30-year electoral history. Less than 43 percent of approximately 375 million eligible voters went to the polls.
The global economic downturn is exacting a heavy toll on developing economies. The three engines of growth in the past decade–exports of consumer goods to wealthy industrialized countries, exports of commodities, and private capital inflows–have stalled. To improve their business and economic climates, developing nations should take bold actions to roll back the size and role of the state in their economies. Now, more than ever, it is important to document successful cases of reform from which they can learn. Given the breadth and scope of its reforms since 2004, Georgia is one of those test cases. Its success is due to the coherent and comprehensive nature of the reform effort, and it offers a lesson from which reform-minded leaders in other developing countries can learn.
Global warming is a reality. But whether it is a serious problem-and whether emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases from human fossil fuel use are the principal cause-are uncertain. The current debate over the U. S. response to climate change centers on greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies are likely to impose substantially higher costs to society than global warming might.
Many Muslims were receptive to President Obama’s efforts to demonstrate respect for Muslims and to stress common values. But Obama missed an opportunity to clearly identify the common enemy: Islamist extremists. Instead, he spoke of “violent extremists,” shied away from using the term Islamist, and glossed over terrorism, which continues to be a threat not only to Americans but to Muslims as well.
Heritage:
Congress should provide additional modernization funds to the U.S. Air Force in the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization and appropriations bills to purchase more F-22s, begin research and development on the next-generation bomber program, and acquire more aircraft to address the looming fighter gap’s dramatic impact on the Air National Guard. Giving the Air Force adequate resources will demonstrate Congress’ commitment to the Air Force and acknowledge its critical role as both an enabler and facilitator of American military power and a strong national defense.
The United States finds itself at a crossroads. Lawmakers can push spending-and taxes-to $32,000 per household, thereby burying families, businesses, and the economy in a painful European-style economic hole, or they can make the difficult but necessary decisions to return the size of government to its 1980s and 1990s level. The House Republicans get credit for beginning a necessary and overdue conversation about spending restraint. They should go further to offer meaningful cuts.
In 2004, the costs of federal regulation reached $1.1 trillion for all groups in society-including businesses, consumers, and state governments. U.S. businesses should not simply wait for the federal government to build the necessary databases and studies that will support such initiatives. Rather, they should emulate the experience of European countries by conducting their own surveys and studies on the effect of major regulations on the competitiveness of businesses and strengthen the organization that will produce these data. (more…)
The Japanese have been reliable security partners of America for half a century, and they have a clear defensive need for the best fighter available. Not only can they afford the cost of modifying the F-22’s sensitive technology to make it transferable, but once it is delivered they can carry more of the security burden in an important region (the U.S. deployed a dozen F-22s to Okinawa in May). The burden for both countries would be eased if they were flying similar fighters, and let’s face it: America could use the export earnings. So why not sell Japan the 50 or so fighters they say they need?
The Recovery Act requires the Federal Communications Commission to produce a national broadband plan. The commission must craft a plan that promotes consumer welfare and identifies the most efficient and effective ways to accomplish broadband policy goals.
The May jobs report paints another grim picture of the labor market. Still, there is some good news, especially for those currently employed. Wages continue to rise, and legislation like the RAISE Act can offer higher wages to workers. Congress should focus on passing pro-growth legislation, especially given how little help the stimulus bill has been to the labor market and the economy.
From CWA:
Things are definitely heating up on Obama Care. We now have draft legislation that the Senate HELP and Finance Committees will be considering next week. According to some estimates, the cost of this plan will be higher than Hillary Care which was estimated to be more than $1 billion each day. (more…)
The recent push among policymakers and activists for a longer school day is just the latest manifestation of the “more is better” approach to school reform. But more time in school is not necessarily proven to generate better results. Successful schools with longer days have other characteristics that count toward success but that are not as hard to replicate. Moreover, without curricular or instructional reform, failing schools with longer school days will simply fail their students for several more hours per week. (more…)
The Islamic Republic of Iran, which has pursued policies hostile to the United States since its founding in 1979, is now on the brink of attaining a nuclear weapons capability. Washington must take stronger actions now to prevent a future disaster from unfolding. After all, the U.S. will be dealing not just with a nuclear Iran, but with a potential cascade of nuclear powers in the Middle East.
Despite early promise, the nuclear industry proved unsustainable largely due to government intervention. Now the U.S. has the opportunity to restart its nuclear industry. However, the industry’s future should be in the hands of the private sector-not government bureaucrats.
The federal cost of supporting rail and transit passengers is excessively high and that investing in roads would be a cost-effective solution that would accommodate the needs of most commuters and travelers.
How about a nice brew while you’re sitting in a comfortable lawn chair watching a performance of “Oklahoma” or “My Fair Lady” on a moonlit summer night?
If you’re at Shawnee Mission Park’s Theatre in the Park, you’re out of luck. Beer is prohibited at the park except for designated areas like the golf course.
After Trustee Benjamin Hodge brought sunshine to the ongoing corruption at Johnson County Community College under President Terry Calaway — most recently, with regard to questions surrounding how truly competitive the “competitive bid” for legal services is — Calaway and elected Board Chair Shirley Brown-VanArsdale ran for cover Monday and cancelled tonight’s scheduled meeting.
JCCC has not once in 40 years performed a competitive bidding process for its main lawyer. Elected leaders VanArsdale and Lynn Mitchelson had pledged to bid out this contract, but it quickly became apparent that the two had no interest in putting first the interests of the public. (more…)
At one level, payouts for tort liability represent income transfers that redistribute wealth from one group to another. The size of these transfers by the tort-liability system determines the liability costs for providing goods and services. Some of the costs are legitimate, but many costs are excessive because of lawsuit abuse. These liability costs have large consequences for the real economy and a healthy society.
NRO:
Seen any offshore drilling lately?
Nope. Here we are a year later, and we find: “Congress lifted its 27-year moratorium on drilling off Florida and the East and West Coast last year, but billions of barrels of that oil remains untouched and off-limits because the Obama administration has postponed development there.”
Wisconsin Gov. James E. Doyle is looking vulnerable as he seeks to win a third term in 2010, according to a newPublic Policy Polling poll. The PPP poll, conducted June 9 and 10, found that just 34 percent of voters approved of Doyle’s job performance, while 60 percent disapproved. (more…)
RCP:
Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio will be joined in Washington tomorrow by a leading conservative voice in the Senate, Jim DeMint of South Carolina. The Rubio camp would not confirm or deny that an endorsement will be made.
Secretary of State Trey Williams (R) and Rand Paul, son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul, are running in the primary as well. Democrats have a tough primary ahead, with Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo and Attorney General Jack Conway seeking the nomination.
The one certain consequence of expanding insurance coverage is that it would raise spending. When people have insurance, they use more health services. That’s one reason why Obama’s campaign proposal was estimated to cost $1.2 trillion over a decade (the other reason is that the federal government would pick up some costs now paid by others). Indeed, the higher demand for health care might raise costs across the board, increasing both government spending and private premiums. (more…)
Mubarak further added that “not Egypt, nor any other Arab country would support Netanyahu’s approach” to the peace process.
Earlier Monday, a Syrian government newspaper slammed Netanyahu’s speech and likened Israel’s policies towards Palestinians to those of the apartheid government in South Africatowards blacks.
Dick Cheney released a statement responded to CIA Director Leon Panetta’s suggestion that the former vice president’s criticism of Obama administration policies means Cheney is wishing for another attack. (more…)
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - CIA director Leon Panetta says it’s almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the “harsh interrogation” of terrorism suspects.
“I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue,” Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine’s June 22 issue.
“It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.”
For the second time in little over a year, it looks as though the world may be heading for a serious food crisis, thanks to our old friend “climate change”. In many parts of the world recently the weather has not been too brilliant for farmers. After a fearsomely cold winter, June brought heavy snowfall across large parts of western Canada and the northern states of the American Midwest. In Manitoba last week, it was -4ºC. North Dakota had its first June snow for 60 years.
There was midsummer snow not just in Norway and the Cairngorms, but even in Saudi Arabia. At least in the southern hemisphere it is winter, but snowfalls in New Zealand and Australia have been abnormal. There have been frosts in Brazil, elsewhere in South America they have had prolonged droughts, while in China they have had to cope with abnormal rain and freak hailstorms, which in one province killed 20 people.
AP:
The decline in family time coincides with a rise in Internet use, and the boom of social networks-though a new report stops just short of assigning blame.
The report is from the Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.
CBS:
Barbara Lippert is Ad Critic for Adweek Media Magazine, and said the billboard seems like a desperate act for Calvin Klein.
“I think he really wants to get back into the ballpark because he doesn’t seem relevant anymore,” Lippert said.
