Heavy rains wiping out crops, the Baltic Sea freezing over, unusually powerful earthquakes triggering tsunamis, and the largest flood recorded in central Europe. Top it off with famine, plague, and social unrest, and people began talking about the end of the world—in the early 14th century. These days, 14th-century Europe sounds a bit familiar in […]
The fiscal cliff is getting closer by the day, and it’s not just Washington wonks who are noticing. Even baseball players are on fiscal cliff watch. Government Executive recently looked at the details of Major League Baseball star B.J. Upton’s newly signed five-year contract with the Atlanta Braves. There’s at least one interesting provision: The […]
A painted welcome to President Obama in Burma. (Photo: EPA/Newscom) President Obama missed a key opportunity to advance robust religious liberty in prepared remarks delivered in Burma recently. This is especially disappointing given that Burma has a long track record of persecution against religious minorities; the plight of Muslims in its west is just the […]
The House Republican leadership has offered a substantive counteroffer to President Obama’s frivolous fiscal cliff proposal of last week. At first blush, it appears little more than categorical, pre-emptive capitulation. To be fair, the details of the Republican proposal are extraordinarily vague. Nor is much clarity or comfort gained from the three-page accompanying letter sent […]
House Cloakroom: December 3 – December 7 Analysis: The House has returned from its Thanksgiving vacation, when Members undoubtedly ate well and enjoyed numerous football games, to do… more of the same. They spent the most of the past week naming post offices until they finally got around to an immigration measure on Friday. All […]
Strong marriage and family relationships are crucial to fighting poverty. This was the message shared by grassroots leaders at an anti-poverty conference sponsored by The Heritage Foundation and the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise this past September. These leaders shared firsthand experience and common-sense intuition about poverty reduction. They explained what sociological research and data continually […]
In the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) recent State of World Population report, access to contraception is described as a “universal human right.” While the report has no legal force, it declares that cultural and financial barriers to accessing contraception are an infringement on women’s rights. While access to contraceptives may be a serious policy […]
A recently released report from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, “Strategic Choices: Navigating Austerity,” argues that allowing some hollowing out of our military forces is acceptable. The report is raising eyebrows around Washington, mainly because it is so at odds with what Pentagon leadership is saying. The individuals who published this report—retired military […]
Dairy farmers spray milk at a European Parliament building. (Photo: Xinhua/Newscom) Got milk? The European Parliament sure does. European dairy farmers were in Brussels this week to protest proposed changes in dairy regulations. Protestors doused the parliament building with milk and capped off a rough 10 days for the European Union (EU) capital following a […]
Today, citizens of Somaliland head to the polls to elect their local municipal council representatives. While the dysfunctional Somalia gets most of the attention in the Horn of Africa, its northern neighbor Somaliland has stood out as a success story. This election is the fifth direct vote in Somaliland since 2002, but is the first […]
