"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."
Courting disaster in Afghanistan
By Fredrick W. and Kimberly Kagan
Resident Scholar and Director, AEI Critical Threats Project

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced a new timeline for American combat operations in Afghanistan—or did he?     He said, “Hopefully, by mid- to the latter part of 2013, we’ll be able to make, you know, to make a transition from a combat role to a tra... More of this article

Federal workers overpaid, and CBO agrees
By Mike Brownfield
Assistant Director of Strategic Communications, The Heritage Foundation

Here’s some news that federal bureaucrats in Washington — and indeed around the country — don’t want to hear: According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report released this week, federal workers are paid higher than their private-sector counterparts.     ... More of this article

Exclusive to OCR: President Barack Obama sounds off on housing
By Barack Obama

Editor’s note: The Orange County Register received this exclusive oped from the White House. In it President Barack Obama argues for his recent housing reform proposals.In a previous editorial the Register opposed his plan.   In my State of the Union Address, I laid out a blueprint for... More of this article

Obama plan would prolong housing pain
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER EDITORIAL

It was predictable that President Barack Obama would pander again to entitlement sentiments. This time involves the misguided belief that everyone is entitled to homeownership, even at the government's – the taxpayers' – expense.   But the president's audacity is a bit much to ... More of this article

Weaning India off Iran
By Sadanand Dhume
Research Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Cooperating with US-led sanctions against Tehran would bring New Delhi long-term dividends.     How should India respond to U.S.-led efforts to halt Iran's suspected rogue nuclear weapons program? An India that uses its oil purchases and diplomatic clout to create breathing room for I... More of this article

Why 2012 is a critical year for the US and Venezuela
By Roger F. Noriega
Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chávez was informed five years ago that his close ally Gen. Henry Rangel Silva – the man whom he recently named Defense Minister – is involved in cocaine smuggling.      Rangel Silva’s appointment to that key security... More of this article

Electric cars: doubling down on dumb
By Kenneth P. Green
Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

Once again, the regulators in California have decided to lead the nation in terms of vehicle emission standards, proposing to require that 15.4 percent of all vehicles sold by 2025 must be electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, or (currently non-existent) fuel cell cars.     In... More of this article

CBO: Federal workers overcompensated
By Andrew G. Biggs
Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

The Congressional Budget Office has released a new study showing that federal-government employees receive significantly higher compensation than private-sector workers with the same levels of education and experience.     The CBO report confirms many of the findings of a 2011 study ... More of this article

With win, Romney faces tough opponents in long war
By Michael Barone
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Mitt Romney's impressive victory Tuesday makes it very likely that we will look back on the Florida primary as the contest that determined the 2012 Republican nomination.     To be sure, the campaign fight will go on, and Romney is by no means assured of a sweep of the relatively fe... More of this article

Obama’s anti-Keystone Pipeline decision
By Harrison Schmitt
Former Astronaut and U.S. Senator (R-N.M.)/Board of Directors, The Heartland Institute

Editors note: Reactions to recent events by Harrison Schmitt — Heartland Institute Board member, former U.S. Senator (R-N.M.), and the last man (and first scientist) to set foot on the moon. (Cross-posted at America’s Uncommon Sense)     C... More of this article

Road not taken: the unrecognized harm of excessive regulation
By David Shaywitz M.D.
Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

The difficulty of creating new and better medicines has been the subject of extensive – at times excessive – soul searching, a process that’s intensified as high-profile patents expire, along with their associated revenue streams, traditionally relied upon to supp... More of this article

Two wars and the 38th parallel
By Michael Mazza
Senior Research Associate, American Enterprise Institute

The Obama administration’s newly released strategic guidance for the Defense Department emphasizes the importance of defending U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific. It’s ironic that elements of the strategy suggest the United States will welcome more risk on the Korean peninsula.  ... More of this article

Are the British Practicing 'Austerity'?
By David Weinberger
Communications Coordinator: Editorial Services, Heritage Foundation

Some prominent left-wing commentators have devoted weekly columns and blogs to the notion that Great Britain has misguidedly pursued harsh spending “austerity” and that doing so has left the country lingering in unnecessary anguish.     In the opinion pages of The New York... More of this article

Iran's gambit in Latin America
By Roger F. Noriega
Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

In early January, Iran caught the world’s attention by threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz and brandish shore-to-sea cruise missiles in what was to be a 10-day naval exercise.     That same week Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced a five-nation trip thro... More of this article

The human capital imperative
By Nick Schultz
Editor-in-Chief of American.com/DeWitt Wallace Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Introduction The United States is in a precarious condition. The American economy still has not fully recovered from the downturn that began in 2008.     A mortgage and banking crisis, followed by a long recession, has given way to an anemic recovery. Americans have endured an al... More of this article

Polling place chaos: Part 2
By Maureen Martin
Senior Fellow, The Heartland Institute

A Wisconsin Tea Party group recently announced that it had found errors on more than a third of the same-day voter registration forms completed in Milwaukee County in the April 2011 election.     I am so not surprised. On presidential election day in November 2004, I was a Repu... More of this article

Polling place chaos: Part 1
By Maureen Martin
Senior Fellow, The Heartland Institute

I’m a Chicago native who moved to Wisconsin fulltime in 2002, where I had vacationed for many years.   I love Wisconsin, but here I’m known as a FIB. The “I” stands for Illinois. You can figure out the rest. Generally speaking, the title is often well-deserved, thoug... More of this article

A response to Obama’s preview of the 2013 defense budget request
By Thomas Donnelly
Resident Fellow and Director, Center for Defense Studies, American Enterprise Institute

Editors note: This article is also written by Gary Schmitt (Resident Scholar, Director of Advanced Strategic Studies, and Director of the Program on American Citizenship, AEI) and Mackenzie Eaglen (Resident Fellow, AEI).     The President’s budget request will slash $487 billion... More of this article

Europe as a major risk to the US economic outlook
By Desmond Lachman
Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

In the year ahead, a more than likely intensification of the European debt crisis constitutes the major external risk to the US economic outlook.   This is partly because US export prospects will be negatively impacted by a marked weakening in the Euro and by a serious economic recession ... More of this article

Taliban reconciliation in Pakistan
By Reza Jan
Analyst for the Critical Threats Project, American Enterprise Institute

Taliban Reconciliation? News reports in the beginning of January rang alarm bells about a ground-breaking agreement between militant groups in northwest Pakistan initiated by Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar, brokered by the Haqqani Network, and encouraged by the Pakistani government.   T... More of this article

 
VIDEO: Attack Ads, Circa 1800: Vitriol Nothing New
01.31.2012

In the Jan. 22 edition of New York Magazine, journalist Joe Hagan said this year’s campaign will ”be the most negative in the history of American politics.” While his piece was great reading, his statement may just be hyperbole. I love it when journalists talk about things being the “most,” “worst,” “best,” etc., without any real [...]

VIDEO: Attack Ads, Circa 1800: Vitriol Nothing New is a post from: Think Free

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