Monday, August 14, 2006

The Wrap-up

Spending
Contrary to popular belief (and liberal complaints), new numbers reveal that President Bush has funded more anti-poverty efforts than any previous president.

Is your congressman a porker? Look him up in the Club for Growth’s new database showing which congressmen voted with Jeff Flake on his anti-pork amendment campaign.

Porkbusting bloggers are tired of chewing the fat about earmarks, and are now taking action against unnecessary congressional spending.

The federal budget includes a vast array of programs, but when boiled down, government spending consists of just five basic activities: paying workers, buying goods and services, transferring wealth to favored groups, subsidizing state and local governments, and paying interest on debt. Cato’s new budget bulletin (PDF) looks at trends in these activities since 1990.

Democrats
Senators Pelosi and Reid, like Howard Dean, leave liberals concerned about the lackluster leadership in the Democratic Party.

Democrats fear low voter turnouts in the midterms, as leaders chide each other for not using sufficient resources to inform their voter base.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is doing his best to produce a do-nothing Congress.

Joe Lieberman lost his primary because, unlike his fellow Democrats, he refused to recant his support for the war—he refused to claim himself the victim of a hoax.

Miscellaneous
How can the U.S. strengthen its relationship with Taiwan? Let’s start with a free-trade agreement.

Representatives Mike Pence and Kay Bailey Hutchison propose a plan for immigration reform that is tough on security while acknowledging the necessity of a guest-worker program.

John Bolton testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A new Cato study exposes the sharp increase in unauthorized paramilitary raids into civilian homes.

Review the list of Washington’s 10 talking points this week, from culture wars to the weather.

New federal action makes pharmaceuticals less expensive, faster, safer and more easily distributable.

Click here for pictures of President Bush and U.S. Staff Sergeant Christian Bagge, whose lost his legs serving in Iraq, as they take a lap around the south lawn of the White House.

Brian Kennedy, president of the Claremont Institute, touts the necessity of a missile defense system.

New discoveries reveal the unreported truth about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

Last week’s thwarted terrorist plot in Britain illustrates the cruciality of domestic surveillance.

No comments: