President Obama is once again embracing his 2008 campaign policy of unilaterally reducing America’s nuclear arsenal by 80 percent. This stance conflicts with his stated goals in the 2010 START agreement with Russia, which calls for smaller reductions in nuclear weapons and modernizing our stockpile to ensure reliability. Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and is very concerned. He says Obama is not doing anything to modernize our nuclear stockpile and is volunteering to reduce our capability at a time when the Iranians are ramping up their nuke program. He also says Obama’s plan would leave the U.S. well below where the Russians are and he finds that unacceptable. Combined with major defense cuts and scrapping an eastern European missile shield, Inhofe fears national security is being severely degraded at the worst possible time. Inhofe also previews his new book “The Greatest Hoax” on the climate change debate.
Archives for February 15, 2012
The Myth of the Free-Ride Fix
One of the main reasons President Obama gave for enacting an individual mandate in the new health care laws was to shield responsible citizens from indirectly paying for huge medical bills piled up by the uninsured. But the Galen Institute and several other public policy firms have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court explaining why they believe the health care laws do not solve the “free-rider” problems and actually make them worse. Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute. She explains why the new law is not a solution but a giant shell game. Turner also tells us how the problem would be worse even if everyone was required to have coverage. And she details why this brief should be very persuasive to the high court.
Three Martini Lunch 2/15/12
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review like a new Rick Santorum add for its cleverness in slamming Mitt Romney for negative ads. It’s also a good wake-up for Romney. They also shake their heads as a Pew Center study shows millions of people who are dead or have moved are still incorrectly on the voter rolls. And they rip President Obama for pushing a tripling of the airline passenger security tax – also known as the TSA groping tax.